Heavy Blood
by SuperNeos2
Summary: A box; paper; guns. These were the things they found in the apartment that night. An empty apartment abandoned of all signs of life. Kendall, James, Carlos, and Logan were all just pulled into hell. Only they couldn't imagine hell being much worse than this.
1. The Beginning

Disclaimer: Don't own Big Time Rush

AN: **I'm so happy because my story "Big Time Brotherly Love" reached over 400 reviews today. Special thanks to GrimesWalsh and her sister for making that possible. They requested that I do an AU of that story. I thought about it before deciding "What the hell?" I pulled out old notes of things that didn't make it into the original and typed this first chapter up to see if others wanna see. Updates might be kinda slow for this due to other things going on.**

**Hope you enjoyed and remember to favorite, alert and review if you enjoyed it.**

**Update 6/24/13: This is a new version of the first chapter. After going back and looking, I realized it could've been a lot better.**

Chapter 1: The Beginning

Kendall Knight was a tough guy. Nothing could be done to get him to break down. He took pride in that, loving that he was looked up to as a strong leader by everyone around him. That's what he wanted to do after all. He wanted to be the best leader he can be for his friends and family. He would do anything for them. Anything.

This guy knew that. He knew that Kendall was a tough guy who would do anything for those he loved and cared for. He was cleaning something metal in his hand while he stared at the many pictures of the blonde. They were scattered across his many desks, counters, and walls. They came from magazines and handheld cameras. He finished cleaning the piece of metal before carefully laying it across the one empty desk.

He rubbed his neck to get rid of the cramps while he carefully examined every picture that he had of Kendall Knight. He smiled each time he looked into the paper eyes of the leader of Big Time Rush. He's been following intel on the boy for many months now after he started his reign of crimes to try and satisfy his needs. No matter how many he took, no matter how many he had fun with, it just wasn't enough for him. He needed to get Kendall to come here. He had to.

But he couldn't just go up and take him. That'll cause too much of a panic for the media. Missing leader of a world famous boy band? He won't be able to catch a break with that. He needed to figure something else out that would allow him to get close to the blonde. He figured Kendall would be able to do what others could not before. Every time he took his play things, he left behind some activities for the family to complete so they could find him and have fun to. He couldn't take whole families at once. It wasn't possible. So he went for the weaker ones of the family and took them, leaving the stronger ones to catch up on their own.

But the question was who? He ransacked the stacks of pictures he had on one desk to try and find a certain few. He moved over the many he had of Kendall to get to the ones that had him and his family. Each picture had to have Kendall in it. No matter who was in the picture.

The first one was of Kendall and his blood family. They could easily be the ones that he wanted to take. His mother was a hot woman that could work well for his games and Kendall loved his sister so that would drive him forward. He looked into those green eyes he was obsessed with while he looked over to his mother and sister. It hurt and disgusted him that he couldn't be in the picture with Kendall. He deserved to be. He deserved to be with him.

The second one was one of Kendall and his bandmates. Now the question was if he wanted to risk taking one of the boys too. James would be too much work to take, as he was the biggest out of all of them and would make a scene if he were to be kidnapped. Carlos wouldn't shut up and would draw attention to him that he didn't want to deal with. Logan could work well. Small and scared of everything that came his way. If he were to tell him the right words, Logan could come willingly.

The man looked the two pictures side-by-side, running it in his head one more time to try and decide who could work well for the games that he had planned. He scratched off James automatically, not wanting the headache and Carlos joined that list when he realized what the boy could do if he were to go up to him. Making a final decision, he smirked to himself; holding the pictures close to his chest.

Jennifer and Katie Knight; along with Logan Mitchell were gonna be his next play things and Kendall, James and Carlos were gonna be the next ones to play the games of The Painter Killer.

The games had begun.

…

Kendall sneezed, startling his friends who were sitting next to him.

"You feeling okay, Kendall?" Logan asked in concern.

Kendall nodded. "Yeah. Just had a sneeze coming up." He assured. Logan nodded at his answer. He sighed at the sound coming from the TV. "Carlos?" he called for the boy's attention. "Can you please change the channel? This is really depressing." He gestured to the screen.

On the screen was a story of the latest attack of The Painter Killer, the most wanted killer in the country. This guy was the devil in human form officials said. This guy targeted women and little girls and on occasion, males, to use for his games. His games you may ask, they were too dark for them to want to talk about. All the guys could say without getting sick was that he assaulted them physically, mentally, and even sexually. His latest victims were a teenage girl, her mother, and her father. The brother that wasn't taken, along with the infant of the family, were the only ones that were left of their family. According to them, the killer sent detailed drawings, paintings, and photographs of his actions to them; hence his name "Painter Killer".

Carlos nodded, turning the screen off. "Sorry. Didn't know that was coming up."

Kendall smiled. "It's alright. It's just disgusting what this guy does. I don't like to hear about it." He admitted.

James nodded in agreement on the couch. "No one does. The only people that don't get sick by this are people like him." James glared in the direction of the TV. He hated this guy and he didn't even know him. Every time James heard of him, he had to control his urges to scream at the screen or at what ever was around. James was waiting for the day this guy was brought to jail for what he has done.

"A part of me wants to go and give my consents to that family." Carlos voiced his thoughts. He didn't like what the killer has done to all his victims. No subtle hints have been given as to why he chooses the people he does and why he does what he does. Carlos, growing up around cops and crime-solving, thought that it might just be because of the control he has over his victims. He never takes more then three people at a time, at least Carlos thought so. Maybe it has to do with the fact that handling three people was hard enough, but when they were being held against their will somewhere? Three was way more then enough.

Logan nodded in agreement. "If that was me, I know that I would want to as well." Logan's opinion on this guy was that there were some really sick people out there. Logan wanted to believe that there was someway this guy can be helped and restored to human levels. But he thought that about all criminals. People could be restored, but there were some that could be harder then others. Logan got sick every time he thought of the acts this guy committed. He knew a line for redemption could be crossed and this guy was getting there. Logan some times wondered if he was an idiot.

"Later. Now we have stuff to do." Kendall stood up from the couch. "Gustavo wants us to get ready for another day of boot camp."

James snickered. "Boot camp? Really, dude?"

"His work is torturous." He defended.

"Sometimes, but not all the time." Carlos said.

Logan laughed a little. "Kendall's just being his dramatic self again, everyone. Don't worry about it." He waved his hand.

Kendall pouted. "Shut up." He whined. He clearly heard his friends laughing behind him at his whining. He needed a way to calm himself though so no one saw how he was really feeling. He was angry over hearing about the killer again. That's all it's been for the past few months. Painter Killer, Painter Killer, Painter Killer. Kendall despised this guy and his disgusting acts. His range of victims was all in this part of L.A. What's to stop him from coming here and taking one of them? Kendall couldn't deal with the idea of one of them being in this guy's hands. He doubted it would happen, but he still felt the paranoia every time he heard the guy and his deeds. Kendall sometimes thought of him facing this guy and taking him down and making sure everyone stayed safe from him and no one else had to suffer.

Kendall would be wishing soon that he knew how to exactly face this guy.

He had no clue what fate had in store for him.

Carlos yawned as he stretched his arms over his head. "If I were to ask you guys to tell Gustavo I was sick, would you do it?" Carlos felt tried today and really didn't feel like going to do work for Gustavo. Like Kendall just said, his work could be torturous and Carlos didn't have the energy for his sessions that dragged on for hours upon hours.

"Nope," Logan responded with a shake of the head. "I don't feel like being yelled at for lying to him about you being sick just because you're lazy and don't want to do any work."

Carlos frowned, "It isn't like that…"

"It's totally like that." James snickered as he read what he had on his phone screen. The snickering stopped when he started to get into what he was reading.

"Whatcha reading there?" Kendall asked as he took a quick glance over James shoulder. Kendall frowned when he saw what James was looking at before the pretty boy so graciously decided to shove him away. "Why are you still looking up stuff that involves that sicko?"

James shrugged, "I really don't know. Maybe it's because I'm scared of what this guy is capable of and have this fear that we can easily be dragged into his game. Just because we're a boy band doesn't mean we're safe from him, especially since he tends to choose victims in this vicinity. Did you know that a couple months back, one of his victims was a girl that lived here?"

The remaining three boys did seem to remember the lack of presence of someone, but they thought that could mean anything. In L.A., when you moved or didn't arrive back to the Palm Woods, you either quit trying to be famous or already were. Never did the option of someone being kidnapped cross their mind.

Carlos stopped with his yawning. "Now I kinda want to not stay here." He fearfully thought of him being taken by this guy one day when he was sitting at home minding his own business.

"Thanks for scaring Carlos, James." Kendall sarcastically told the boy who was still glancing at his phone before shifting his attention to the scared helmet-loving boy that was hiding behind Logan. "Carlos, nothing is gonna happen to you."

"How do you know?" fear crept its way into Carlos' tone of voice, making his three friends turn and look at him pitifully. Carlos was not really scared of anything, so hearing him talk with fear laced in his voice made them all step back a step.

"Because I will never let anything happen to you or anyone else I care about. If I have to, I'll do what ever it takes to make sure that you guys stay safe. I'll go to the farthest corners of the earth to make sure that no pain is impinged onto you guys."

James and Logan smiled at Kendall's small speech while Carlos visibly relaxed and replenished his energy for the day just by his new gratefulness that he received from Kendall's words. Kendall smiled as the four of them started getting ready for the day's events. First work, then pay condolences to the family of the latest victims of the killer, and then go one for there.

The four of them didn't know that down in the lobby, a man with a box sat as he waited for the right time to strike and throw them on an adventure that'll test their morals, humanity, and friendship.

Big Time Rush was in for one hell of a ride.

End of Chapter 1 of Heavy Blood

This is the start to the AU. Already many things are different.

Hope you all enjoyed this and remember, favorite, alert and review if you enjoyed. More feedback equals faster updates.

Next Time: The Highway to Hell


	2. The Highway to Hell

Disclaimer: Don't own BTR

AN: **I'm glad people enjoyed the first chapter of this story. Hope you enjoy this one too. And if you like my writing, check out the original story from this "Big Time Brotherly Love" and also "Dark Knight" if you love Kendall angst.**

Chapter 2- Highway to Hell

Big Time Rush, after a long few hours of doing work for Gustavo, were now enjoying the last few hours of the day in Palm Woods Park with their friends. The sun was still in the process of setting, so there was still plenty of light out for them to enjoy. The breeze felt good on their skins after being stuck inside the walls of the studio for a long period of time.

On one side of the tree, you had Logan and Camille doing what Carlos dubbed as disgusting couple stuff that made him wanna puke. Well that was only if you counted feeding each other, kissing, hugging, and making goggily eyes at each other, disgusting. On the other side of the tree were a flirty James and a quickly-getting-annoyed Lucy. James just didn't seem to take the answer that the girl kept giving him each time he made a move on her since her entrance into the Palm Woods. She didn't want to go out with him, even going as far as to dump him in the friend-zone to get him to stop. He did for a while, only stopping out of respect for her feelings for Kendall. But after his blonde friend told him that, while he cared for her, he didn't like her as any more than a friend. That was all the answer James needed to go in and keep making his move, convinced that one day, she'd crack and give him a chance. James just needed to play the waiting game for however long he had to.

Away from the tree by a few feet, sitting on the picnic blanket were Carlos, who was doing his best to grab as much of the food as he could to eat, Kendall, who was trying to take some away from him so he didn't choke or got himself sick, and Jo, who was giggling while watching the whole interaction between two boys. Days like this were the ones that each of them liked to cherish, since each of them had their own busy schedules that stopped a lot more hangouts like this from happening. So, they took it all in stride and accepted what ever chances they got to be together like this. The peace, the fun times, and the positive atmosphere felt great for all of them.

Until Kendall killed it.

"Stop eating all of that food." He was still trying to slip his hands into Carlos' and to take the quickly growing collection of food away from him, worried that the boy was gonna choke with how fast he was going. "And stop trying to stop me from stopping you from eating."

Carlos swallowed the giant lump in his throat, sticking his tongue out right afterward. "I helped make this, Kendall. I have a right to eat as much as I want."

"Not when you're up in the middle of the night, whining and bitching that your stomach hurts and is gonna explode." He used past memories to help with his case against his hungry friend. "Then I won't be able to sleep."

"I'm the one that has to deal with it most," Logan raised a finger, throwing himself into the fray between Kendall and Carlos. "I room with him. I have to be there when he's rolling off his bed and onto the floor, clutching his stomach like if it'll blow up if he lets go."

Carlos pouted, turning his attention from the food basket to Logan, eyeing his friend with wariness. "Do I really do that? I just thought I jumped up and ran when I felt the bubbles in my stomach start to get more and more unbearable." Kendall was moving his hand slowly behind Carlos, making a move to grab the basket. Carlos must've had eyes on the back of his head. "Don't touch it. I'm still hungry." He warned his blonde leader without taking his eyes off of Logan or making a move behind him. Kendall, being freaked out that Carlos even knew what he was doing without looking, held his hands up and shimmied away slowly from the basket.

Logan shook his head, both in amusement and as an answer to Carlos' question. "Not really. But you do whine and complain a lot when your stomach hurts from eating too much. While it might suck for you, it's great for us. Entertainment wise." He explained to his Latino friend.

James took a break from flirting with Lucy, much to her relief, and circled around the tree to get involved with the conversation. "Kinda, yes. But it's still not as funny as Logan's face when he gets scared." James smirked when Logan looked to him with a pleading glare, telling him to stop talking and go back to what he was doing. James turned to Camille. "Did you know your boyfriend sleeps with a nightlight when he has nightmares?"

"You son-of-a-bitch!" Logan struggled against the tight grip Camille's arm had on his wrist, trying to pull away with all of his might to get to James. "That's supposed to be a secret! And the point of having secrets is to _**keep**_ them as a secret!" he felt around the grass for a rock to chuck at his laughing friend's head. "You better pray I don't find a rock."

Camille's grip was starting to loosen from her increasing laughter at the revelation of her boyfriend's sleeping ways. "That is so cute!"

Logan felt the grip loosen enough for him to try and break free. It wasn't enough, but it was getting pretty close. Just one more moment and he would be able to break out to rip James' head off. Although a part of him wondered how he was gonna rip James' head off when he couldn't even get out of the hold of his girlfriend. Oh well. If Logan couldn't use his muscle to rip James apart, that giant stick in the background could do well enough.

"So cute." Jo agreed.

"You still have that nightlight?" Kendall asked in disbelief towards his glaring and blushing brunette genius friend. Logan slept with a nightlight his dad bought for him to help keep the 'monsters' away from him when he was younger. But as he got older, he said that he was getting too old for something like that. Was he just lying so no one bothered him about it? Or was he just a hypocrite?

"It holds sentimental value!" Logan defended himself.

"If something holds sentimental value, you keep it in a box or a drawer. You don't still use it." Kendall raised both eyebrows with his trademark game-winning smirk on his face.

"Why _**do **_you still use it?" Carlos asked.

Logan's already blushing face grew redder. He stopped fussing against Camille's grip to get to James, sinking his back against the tree, letting out a long-drawn breath from his lungs. "You all know about The Painter Killer, right?" he looked to see everyone nodding at him, only some seeing where he was going with this. "Well…we watched the news report this morning, and that got me thinking." He paused, not sure if he wanted to continue on with what he was thinking.

"Thinking about what?" Carlos asked, now seeing where Logan was going with this. That news report got him thinking too. Thinking about all the torment that this guy caused and not even getting caught for it, made Carlos worried that this guy would stay out there in the city forever. He would never get caught, he would never get identified, and he would keep going until he died of old age, cancer, or what ever claimed his sorry excuse for a life.

"About what might happen if…if he comes after us."

"Is this about what that douchebag said to us today?"

Kendall's eyes hardened when he mentioned the guy that they met today while coming back from the studio. That basket of food Carlos was so attached to was originally made by his mother and Carlos as a way of Big Time Rush giving their consultants to the family of the latest victims of the killer. It was Logan's idea to go and give their consents to the family, believing that it was the right thing for them to do, and Kendall could say that he agreed at first. That was until they actually got there.

…

"_Is this the spot?" Kendall asked Logan, eyeing the sturdy door that was in front of them. They just finished work for the day and Logan reminded them about the talk that was said this morning about going to say how sorry they were to the family of the latest victims of The Painter Killer. James was trying to look through the windows to see if anyone was home. Carlos was holding the basket of food that he and Mama Knight customized for the family they were here to see, swaying side-to-side out of anxiousness. Logan was just watching the door, going through his head to remember the address that was said in the paper he picked up on the way here._

_Logan nodded. "Yeah, it says right here on the paper, 360 Kings Lane. And lookie here on the door," he pointed to the top of the door. "360 Kings Lane. This is the right spot. Maybe they're just not home." He shrugged._

_James shook his head at the brunette genius. "No. I see someone inside. Small, blonde hair, maybe has brown eyes. Girl, most likely." He explained. Was it wrong that he didn't feel like a creep for staring in the windows of a house of a family that recently lost some of their own? Maybe it was wrong, but James could think about his problems later after they helped out this family. He really wanted to. Just for the fact that if this was him in this position, he would like to have some kind of help from someone, no matter who they were._

"_Then what's taking them so long to open up the door?" Carlos asked, fixing his grip on the basket as his fingers were starting to cramp up. "Doesn't matter." He said after a second. "Once they see this and hear our words of consent and apologies, it'll all be worth it."_

_Logan smiled. "Yeah. It'll be worth it alright. That's something your father and mine drilled into our heads a lot as kids. Do nice things for others as it's the right thing to do." There was shuffling of the feet on the other side, the door starting to open soon afterward. "Here we go."_

_The brown wooden door opened up, three figures appearing on the other side of the door. The first one that caught their attention was the small blonde girl James was talking about before. She looked to be about three or four years old, holding the hand of the oldest one of the trio. James was right about her eyes being brown, but they were also scared and confused. She brightened though when she saw them. "Daddy! It's Big Time Rush!"_

_Carlos smiled at the optimism of the little girl. "Hey. What's your name?" he asked politely and sweetly. _

_She opened her mouth to say her name, but her father gazed down onto her. "Wait a minute, sweetie." He looked back to them, the four boys noticing that one of his eyes was wrapped in bandages. "Daddy wants to know why they're here." The question was obviously meant for them, not her. _

_Kendall noticed the tone of his voice. It sounded threatening and wary, although it made sense since his family was just taken and murdered by a serial killer. He would be on guard too if someone he didn't expect to come to his home suddenly appeared. He gestured for Carlos to show the basket. "We heard about your family," the other man's eye hardened at him, daring him to continue that sentence. "And we decided it would be nice to pay our condolences to you." _

"_Why?" he asked, rocking his arm to soothe the small body in it. It was when they first noticed that he was holding an infant his arm. _

"_Your son?" Logan asked._

"_My little brother." He corrected. "And answer my question now. Why are you here?"_

_James looked confused. "Didn't you hear? We're here just to be nice and apologize for what happened?"_

"_Did you kill grandma, grandpa and Aunt Kathy?" the little girl asked, startling the boys, not expecting someone so young to understand what had happened. The words were more powerful coming from her, someone who should only be worrying about playing with toys, not worrying about deaths in the family, especially so many at once._

_Carlos shook his head. "No, little girl. We didn't. We're just sorry that it happened."_

"_Unless you know who did it or had a part in it, I don't want your apologies. I already have enough crap to deal with, both before and after this little incident with the killer."_

"_Daddy tried to help them." The little girl spoke up. "He hurt his eye trying."_

"_Princess, please don't tell others what happened to daddy." He softened when he looked at her. "They don't need to know." She looked at him, nodding her head afterward, hugging his leg as an apology. He placed his hand on the top of his daughter's head. He looked back to Big Time Rush. "Just go."_

"_Look here, buddy." Kendall glared, finding this guy's behavior to be annoying and ridiculous. All they wanted to do was help and say they were sorry. That didn't give this jerk the right to act the way that he was acting now. "All we wanted to do was come and say sorry. This guy that hurt your family is a prick and deserves to die. I know it and you know it. You have every right to be mad at him, but don't take it out on those that are trying to help you."_

"_Why don't you shut up and leave!" he snapped back, his voice startling the baby in his arms. The baby started to cry, which only served to make the man in front of them all the more angry. "Look! Now you woke him up after I worked for hours to put him to sleep!"_

"_You're the one yelling!" James argued. "Not us."_

_The man glared with his hardened look. "I didn't ask for you to be here and try and make things right for me." He laughed darkly. "You wanna help me? You wanna help make things better for me, my daughter and my brother?" he turned serious once again. "Find the son-of-a-bitch and kill him." There was no undertone; there was no humor in his voice. Only seriousness and anger. "Do that, and then come back." He rocked the baby in his arms. "But until that day comes, get out." He ushered for his daughter to come back inside._

_She looked one last time to the boys. "I like your music. Mommy played it for me every night before she died." Her brown eyes started to tear up when she thought of her mother. _

"_You lost your mommy too?" Carlos asked her, not able to keep his mouth quiet when she said that. He loved kids. He always did. He always had a soft spot for little kids. They were always the first ones he called up for pictures, autographs, etc. And seeing this little girl, who apparently lost four of her relatives in the span of a few days, broke his heart all the more than it already was._

"_Carlos," Kendall called for him, trying to get the boy to stop talking so they can go. Apparently this guy didn't want their help, so Kendall didn't see for any reason for them to stay here any longer than they had to. "Let's go."_

"_Her mother died, yes." The man nodded, not sounding all that harsh when he was talking about her. "Not too long ago. Maybe before we found my other relatives dead." He sighed. "Listen to Blondie here and just leave." He softened his gaze a little. "I appreciate the concern, but I don't want anything to do with it right now. Come back when he's dead or caught, but until then…please stay away." He grabbed his daughter's hand. "Come on, Katelyn. Let's go back inside. I need to make you dinner."_

"_But there's some he-" Carlos was grabbed by Logan, the genius shaking his head at him. Carlos reluctantly nodded his head, it being clear to him now that this guy didn't want anything more to do with them. "If your daughter wants an autograph, I'll be happy to give her one."_

_James took one look at how that sentence brightened the little girl's spirits and was nodding alongside his friend. "I'll give one too."_

_Logan smiled at the little girl. "Me too."_

_Carlos looked to Kendall, who remained quiet after getting into the argument with the man, asking him silently if he would give his too. Kendall looked back and sighed, nodding right after. This little girl deserved something good in her life right now after losing so much family. Plus, he shouldn't be an ass to her just because he was mad at her father for being a stubborn jerk. "I'll give mine too. Make it complete."_

"_Can they, Daddy?" she looked excitedly to her father, who was twitching his lips. It was obvious to Logan that he was trying not to smile. "Please, can they? Please?"_

_He rustled his daughter's head. "Go and get your C.D, Katey. Daddy'll wait here for you." She hugged her dad and raced back inside to get her BTR C.D. He looked back to the guys. "That's the happiest I seen her in a long while." He closed his eye. "All she's been doing for the past three weeks is crying. When I hurt my eye, she cried hysterical. When her mom died, a lot more. After we found our family, all she did for the whole day was cry. From eight in the morning to nine at night, all she was doing was crying. I still don't like that you came, but I appreciate your generousness to my daughter. She's one of the only two things I got left in this world. Her and my brother." He opened his eye and stared back at them. "Thank you for being nice to her."_

"_Just because her dad's a miserable jerk doesn't mean we should treat her like nothing." Kendall narrowed his eyes at him, still mad that he was being stubborn and insensitive about the whole them bringing him food thing. "She's looks like a good kid."_

"_She is." He replied a moment after Kendall finished. "Even after everything that's happened to her, she still acts like she did before. I just hate I can't take away everything she's seen and heard about. She'll never forget what's happened these past three weeks. She never will."_

"_You don't look that old," Logan noted. "How old are you?" the man looked to him in confusion. "Just curious is all. She's about three or four and you look like our age."_

"_I'm nineteen, Mr. Nosy." He cleared his throat for what ever reason. "I had her when I was sixteen." His voice sounded hoarse for a reason. Like if he was about to break down. "Might've been accidental, but I'm glad I have her. She's my whole world." He could hear her coming back. "Please just sign and leave. You're butting into my personal business."_

_Katelyn came back, holding her BTR C.D tightly in her small hands. "Thank you." She thanked them with a big smile as she handed Carlos the pen she also brought with her. For the next minute or two, there was silence as the BTR boys signed the C.D for their young fan. Katelyn's father watched them as he kept rocking his little brother in his arms, who's crying had subdued after his young aunt came back._

_The man nodded when they were done, taking the pen and handing his daughter the now autographed C.D. He looked at them with a warning look. Kendall grabbed James and Carlos by the collars of their shirts and looked to Logan in the eyes, nodding his head to the side. Logan sighed and followed after the now departing Kendall, James and Carlos. Carlos turned one last time to Katelyn to give her a smile and a wave, the little girl smiling and waving back. Her father ushered her inside and looked a BTR one last time before he closed his door._

…

Kendall sighed when he remembered that conversation that didn't go well for them. "I just feel sorry for that little girl. Losing all of her family to one psycho."

"We don't know how her mom died." James reminded. "And plus, that wasn't cool how you talked to him like that."

Kendall glared at James, shocked and upset he was taking the side of the guy who pushed them and their help away. "He was a douche, James. He didn't have a right to talk to us like if we were the killer himself."

James sighed at his friend's behavior and attitude about the young father. "You just said that the little girl lost a lot of her family. That goes for him too. His daughter's mother, mother, father, and sister were all killed in three weeks, apparently. That's a good enough reason for someone to be pissed at anyone he wants to be pissed at." James couldn't stop the smirk itching on his face. "That would be you if you were in his position. If you lost a lot of your family, you would be just like him. Maybe worse."

Kendall snorted, "I wouldn't turn away those that would try and help me."

"You would push them away the second they knocked on the door." Jo sided with James. "I know you, Kendall. I know you well enough to say that if you lost people you care for, you would be just like how you describe this guy."

Kendall looked shocked. "You're siding with James now?" He gestured between him and Jo. "I thought we were friends." Kendall might've not have chosen Jo or Lucy when they wanted him to pick who to date, but after he explained his reasons why, they all decided to remain friends. And Kendall thought friends had each other's backs when they needed it.

Jo shrugged. "Maybe. But it kinda gets annoying when you say that you wouldn't act like an ass if you had a reason to. You would be exactly like this guy, minus the daughter and little brother."

Kendall groaned, "I can't win, can I?"

Lucy shook her head, stifling a giggle. "Nope."

Logan stretched his arms over his head. "I'm gonna walk around a bit. Stretch my legs. They're cramped to hell." He kissed Camille and started his walk, following the path of the park. He watched all of the people in the park go about their business, most oblivious to his watching of them. As he walked, he went back to thinking about the possibility of the killer coming after them. They weren't special when it came to that. They could easily get involved one day with the killer. It didn't have to be any time soon, but it could happen. If he could go after the family of a little girl as sweet as that Katelyn girl and take away almost her entire family, what stopped him from coming after them?

He was scaring himself, he concluded. He was just getting his nerves up for nothing and would freak himself out enough to the point where he would need to use the nightlight tonight. Why the hell did James have to say anything about it? He told the pretty boy after he caught him grabbing it from his drawer, having been sent up by Carlos to get his helmet from his side of the room. Now he was regretting it because James apparently couldn't keep a damn secret to himself about anything.

He stifled a laugh that was bubbling in his chest as he thought about James' face when he found him with the nightlight. When he got back, James would be in for a real lecture from Logan about not keeping secrets. And maybe Logan would let it slip that James got a perm when he lost a bet between himself and Carlos. Logan would leave out the part about the bet and just say that James wanted to try one out. He could imagine the looks of laughter on everyone's face and the shocked and horrified one on James'. He couldn't wait to get back and say. Revenge might be cold but Logan would feel warm all over when he got his.

He stopped walking when a man, about 6'4, started to walk over to him. His eyes were covered by a pair of sunglasses and was wearing a blue cap to cover his hair, but there were small strands falling out from the back, which Logan could see were blonde. He was really muscular and his lips were one line. No emotion was probably on his face behind those shades. He was wearing a dark blue shirt with dark blue jeans to match. Black sneakers topped off his dark look. Logan was starting to get the feeling that something wasn't right.

The mysterious man's lips turned into a smile. "Lookie here. Logan Mitchell of Big Time Rush. Nice to run into you so soon." Logan paled at the sweet and sickening tone of the man's voice. "Just the guy I was looking for."

"Why?" Logan had to ask, backing away slightly at the way the guy was addressing him. "Why do you need me?"

He laughed, finding his fear amusing. "You heard of The Painter Killer, right?" he asked. Logan didn't know where he was going with this, but didn't like it. He didn't like it one bit. He gave the man a nod, which made him nod. "Good. Good." He looked around. "Then I don't have to introduce myself to you." He bowed mockingly to the shocked boy.

"W-Wait a s-second." He pointed his shaking finger to the man in front of him. "Y-You're the k-killer?" he asked.

The man nodded. Before Logan could yell, the killer had a gun on him. "That's not a good idea." He advised. Logan paled at the sight of the gun, shaking even more. The killer took note of this. "What's the matter, Logie? Afraid of guns?"

Logan didn't answer but the answer was yes. Guns did scare him. Mostly because one was used to kill his father. He heard and had been devastated beyond belief. Ever since that day, guns were on the top of his worse fears. But this guy was slowly climbing his way up to the top to take that place.

"Well, I don't care if you're scared or not. Come with me now, or I'll blow your brains out here on the nice clean grass."

"I-I rather d-die than b-be your v-victim." He stuttered. What Logan meant was that he rather die now then to be tortured and killed later. He didn't know how the hell he was finding courage when there was a mad man in front of him pointing a gun at him. He was proud of himself for not coming off as completely weak in front of the biggest criminal in the city.

The killer laughed. "I didn't think you say that. But, before I let you go, I wanna show you something."

"Bullshit." Logan cursed at the man.

"No. Look, see?" he slowly put the gun away in his back pocket. He held his hands up. "See? I mean no harm to you. I just wanna show you something." He ushered for Logan to follow him. Logan stood his ground, not making a move to follow him. The killer seemed to get angry since his lips turned into a frown. "Follow me now, Logan! I'll kill James and Carlos if you don't."

"Why not Kendall?" Logan, being smart, noticed that he left out Kendall's name when he said that he'll kill James and Carlos. The killer tensed and shook his head wildly. Logan picked up on that. "Why not him?"

"No. Not Kendall. I'll never hurt him." Logan was starting to get creeped out at the weird tone of the guy's voice. "I can never do that." He shook his head again. "Follow me now!"

Logan jumped but followed him this time. The killer's lips turned back into a smile and led Logan to where he wanted to lead him. They reached the back of the park and walked towards a black van. The killer reached for his keys to the car. When he found them and started to turn the key, Logan debated on grabbing the gun from his back pocket or just hauling out of there. He reached but stopped when he stopped turning the key, moving to open the door. Inside was something that made Logan gasp.

Mama Knight and Katie were unconscious and bound and gagged.

"Wha?" he looked to the killer. "How did you get them?" he asked, looking over the unconscious bodies of the Knight women. No external injuries as far as he could see. But he could check later.

The killer smirked, or at least Logan thought he did. "Wasn't me." He confessed. "Was my man there in the front." He pointed to a Caucasian male around 6'1 with a build smaller than the killer's. He also had sunglasses, but didn't wear a cap to cover his brunette hair. "And now since you saw," he spun quickly and grabbed Logan by the collar of his shirt, sticking the barrel of the gun to the back of his neck. "You have to come too."

"You're a sick bastard. Kidnapping defenseless women." He spat.

"You don't seem to care about me taking you." The killer noted, surprised about Logan's bravery.

"Let them go and take me. If Kendall finds his mom and sister gone, he'll kill you."

The killer shook his head. "No. They already have seen my man here. I can't let them go. Plus, Kendall will come to me now with them gone and his best friend now in my grasp."

"There it is again. Why do you seem insisted on Kendall?" Logan asked. "Does he know you?" Logan was met with the gun smacking into the back of his skull, making him fall to his knees. He groaned and held back tears that were forming due to the pain. "Oww."

"Don't question me about Kendall again, follow me?" he asked, not bothering to wait for an answer from the brunette. "Stand up." He barked. Logan stumbled a little bit, his head throbbing from the pain of being hit with a gun. "I said stand up!" he kicked Logan in the ribs, sending the boy back down. The killer grabbed Logan's neck and threw him into the back of the van with the Knight women. "Shut up and don't make a noise." He pointed to the mother and daughter with his gun. "Don't wake them up or touch them. I want them like that when we get to where we're going." He closed the van door, rounding over to the shotgun of the van. He looked to his man. "Was it hard?"

He shook his head. "Knocked the door, grabbed the younger one when it opened, knocked her out with chloroform and proceeded to do the same with her mother. She's a looker. Just sucks that I'm stuck on bird-watching duty while you have the fun with her." He whined.

The killer laughed. "Tell you what? If Kendall and the rest don't find them in the two weeks they have; before I kill them, you can go a round." He promised. His sidekick shrugged, figuring it was the best he was gonna get with him. He handed him the keys and his sidekick started the van, driving away to where they wanted to go.

In the back, Logan rubbed the back of his head while he stared at the non-moving forms of the Knight women. He didn't touch them, worried what the psycho would do if they were moved in any way. This guy deserved his title of a psycho prick that needed some help mentally. He closed his eyes, falling into slumber due to the pain of his head. He would probably have a concussion but there wasn't anything he could do about it. Before he passed out, he made a small prayer.

'I know you'll find us Kendall. Find us and kill this bastard. I'll protect your mom and sister.'

…

"No…no way."

Kendall denied for the fifth time since they entered the apartment. The door had been left open and that started to alarm the panic Kendall was now feeling. When Logan didn't come back, they all assumed he went back to the apartment. He did say his legs were tired after all. So they left to go and see. When they got there, not only was he not there, but Mama Knight and Katie were gone.

James found this box on the table in the middle of the room. He alerted Carlos and Kendall to his finding. The three of them were of course skeptical to opening it up, but they didn't have much of a choice. James opened the lid and inside was something that made them freeze in their seats.

Three rows neatly organized. A K, J and C were at the top of the rows. Five sets of papers were in each pile. A gun was in each also. And a note was at the bottom. Kendall grabbed it and read it.

_Boys,_

_In case you can't see it, I've taken Logan, Katie and Jennifer Knight hostage. They're the next ones in my little game. But they can't have all of the fun in this. You guys need something to do as well while I have fun with them. You'll each do your little assignments in here in order by number. Each of you has 1-5 on yours. How ever you choose to go about who goes first doesn't really bother me. But you can't skip one or do all of yours first before someone else goes. You take turns; the order of who goes is up to you. Each one you complete will give you a piece of the picture where I'm keeping them. You have two weeks. After that and I kill them and send them to you. Have fun boys, hope I see you soon Kendall._

_The Painter Killer._

"Son of a bitch." James cursed as Kendall finished reading. "Logan had every right to be paranoid about this. We WERE next. Goddamn it!" he stomped his foot.

"This can't be happening." Carlos denied.

"It is happening." Kendall concluded. "It's up to us and no one else. We'll do this on our own and save Mom, Katie and Logan. They won't die."

"No one's found this guy before." James reminded. "How do you know we'll do this?"

"Because I'm not stopping with these challenges until we're done. Once we find where they are, I'll blow his head off with this gun." He grabbed the gun in his row.

The search had begun.

And the sorrows and challenges were on the way.

End of Chapter 2 of Heavy Blood

Lots of drama already. Kendall, James and Carlos are on the way to searching.

But if you read the original, you know that Kendall was the only one who did this and him trying on his own almost got him killed and arrested many times. But now that James and Carlos are helping him, can they do it without too much pain?

This story will be shown two ways. One in Kendall, James and Carlos' POV and the other in Logan, Katie and Jennifer's POV.

Is that single father gonna play a bigger role? Maybe. Only I know.

Hope you enjoyed and remember to review, alert and favorite if you enjoyed.

Next Time: Row 1- Kendall 


	3. Row 1: Kendall

Disclaimer: Don't own BTR

AN: **We have entered the challenges. A lot of angst awaits, mind you. But I hope its good angst. I hope I got the boys just right in this chapter. I really did think I did something wrong in the beginning with Kendall and Carlos. You'll find out when you read it. **

**Thanks to all of those that reviewed, alerted and favorited this story so far. It's because of you guys I'm even doing this in the first place. Hope you all stick with me and this angst ridden journey and provide snippy comments about how I'm horrible to the boys.**

**Again, you'll see when you read. **

**Enjoy.**

Chapter 3- Row 1: Kendall

The tension that was in the room was maddening; sickening even. Three of the most important people in their family had all been kidnapped by The Painter Killer, whom officials say is the most dangerous criminal that has ever appeared in L.A history. The lack of air that was in each of their lungs was enough to make the three of them want to choke; vomit even. They just couldn't accept this. They couldn't accept that this was happening to them. What did they do to this guy to deserve to have half of their family taken and held hostage by a psycho killer?

Then again, what did any of the other victims do to him to deserve their death?

Kendall held the note in his hands, which were balled at his side, while James and Carlos did another quick look-around to see if there was anything else that was left for them. As they did that, Kendall went to thinking. Thinking about the fastest way to complete the challenges and the most fitting ways that he could use to kill the guy who took his family. All of a sudden now, Kendall found it really hard to concentrate on anything else other than the rage he was feeling bubbling inside of his chest. Usually he was good with controlling it, but now all he wanted to do was run to the nearest wall and punch a hole through it. How could he not have seen this coming? How could he let Logan go off by himself for a walk? He should've at least had someone else go with him, just to be safe. But what Kendall kept forgetting was that he didn't have a clue a few hours ago that they were gonna be hunted and thrown into this predicament.

He picked his hands back up to look again at the piece of paper, which was crumpled up to the point of almost unreadable. He smoothed out the edges and most crumpled spots to read it again. The note itself made him sick. The way this guy used his words made it seem like he was just using this as entertainment. Giving James, Carlos, and himself five assignments to do while he has 'fun' with his mother, sister and Logan? What kind of sicko would do that for fun? Did he view people as objects for nothing but his own disgusting needs and when he was done or got bored, cast them aside like nothing but garbage? Well, after watching the last broadcast about his little activities and his last victims, Kendall only thought what he figured out with what he had to go on. People were toys to him and he wanted others to suffer while he did his business. Why else would he give the assignments over to him, James, and Carlos? Why not just not send anything and make them wait in torment?

Was there something else that Kendall didn't know? Well, the final line on the note was creeping him out a whole lot right now. He said he hoped to see him soon. Why him? If he wanted him, why not take him and not Logan, Katie, or his mom? What did Kendall do that would make this guy want to see him? If he wanted to meet one-on-one, why not just send for him and ask if he wanted to meet and talk? The killer's mind was already a puzzle with this one note. Something that Kendall didn't want to waste time to try and figure out. The only puzzle he wanted to figure out was the puzzle of the location of his family.

But why Logan? If the killer wanted Kendall, then it kinda made sense why he would take his mother and sister; but why Logan? Why not keep him here to help them figure out where they were being held? Oh, that's probably why. Logan was the smartest guy Kendall knew. If he was still here and if they had this box, Logan would probably guess where the location was before they even got started. This guy obviously wanted them to do all the challenges before they made a guess as to where to find him. With Logan still here, that wouldn't be the case. So the killer took his mother and sister to give him a reason to do the challenges and took Logan so he couldn't find any shortcuts. Man this guy was smart, as much as Kendall pained to admit it, although not out loud where James and Carlos would hear.

And also, why drag them into this? Kendall was obviously who the killer wanted; if the note he was holding was any indication. So why would he drag James and Carlos into the fray as well? Why not leave them out and make him do everything. Was it because there were too many challenges and there was no way Kendall could do it all on his own? Then why not reduce the number of challenges that was given? Kendall had so many questions and they weren't anywhere near close to getting answered. Maybe as time went on, he would get some answers. But for now he would have to hold them all in to himself to wait to be asked later. He had other business to attend to afterall. His family needed him.

He looked up from the paper to see that James was rustling through the piles of paper that were on the table where the box was found. He was probably looking for some more clues as to what they had to do. How long did they have? By the timeframe of the last kidnappings, which took place maybe around two weeks ago, they probably had that amount of time left before they found…before they failed.

James stopped looking through the piles of paper to look at Kendall. His normally strong eyes were now scared and weak. James didn't know what to do with what he was dealt with. He wasn't the only one. He couldn't even look at his row that the killer marked for him. He was obviously worried that they were gonna fail and not find them and then three of the most important people in the world to them would be dead. James was the one who said before that no one found this guy before. What made them capable? They were just three-fourths of a boy band going against a master criminal. That would be like putting a turtle against a tiger. The end result was obvious.

James' mouth moved like he was about to say something, but he stopped and continued looking through the pile he already looked through; hoping that he missed something. Kendall wanted desperately to tell James that they would do it. They would save Logan, Katie, and his mother and then things would go back to the way they were. He wanted to, but Kendall wasn't one to lie to people unless necessary. Lying now could work, but James and Carlos would never fall for his bluffs in something as serious as this. He would need to give them confidence in a different way other than lying.

Looking away from James, who was already halfway through the pile, Kendall turned his attention over to Carlos; who was walking out of his and Logan's room. He must've hoped that the note was lying and that Logan was sleeping in his bed with his nightlight on. Kendall wished that that was the case, but with the nightlight Carlos was holding in his hand, Kendall knew that Logan wasn't there. Carlos was looking at it with downcast eyes, looking like they had already failed. Kendall needed Carlos now more than ever, and he couldn't have him being this depressed when they haven't even started the search yet.

He folded the note back into the ball it was crumpled into when he squeezed his hands and put it in his pocket. He walked over to the box that held their challenges and grabbed it. He turned back to Carlos, who looked up at him when he saw the blonde move, and nodded his head at him, signaling him to come on over. Carlos' eyes turned from dead to sadness and misery. Kendall almost forgot that Carlos was the most innocent out of all of them. He was the teddy bear of the group. Teddy bears were made to comfort, not to go and catch serial killers from the streets. Kendall found his friend's innocence to be a necessity in their group, but now he didn't think it would work. Who knows what they'll have to do to save their family? Carlos would need to take his innocence and replace it with the pieces of paper in this box with his name on it. He could switch them out and take it back later.

Carlos looked back down to Logan's nightlight before he placed it in his pocket. Kendall almost questioned him but figured he had his reasons. He was already gonna force Carlos to do things he didn't want to do. He would let him carry around what he wanted to carry around. Kendal just hoped he left space for the gun in his row. Carlos kept eye contact with Kendall as he walked forward to him and stopped a few feet away from him, waiting for him to continue on. Carlos was never this quiet before. None of them were. But even the loudest of all humans shut up when something even louder and more powerful then them was thrown in their presence. This box spoke all volumes. It muted the words each of them wanted to say. Words of fear, pain, and anger. Words that wouldn't get them far. Only their actions from here on out would get them closer to their missing family. There would be time for talking after they were finished.

If they finished.

Kendall turned to see James shove the pile to the carpet floor, obviously annoyed by the lack of help that was obviously not there. He let out a grunt of anger when he did, stacks flying up into the air and falling down to his feet. He was letting out breathes of stress while he rested his hands on his hips, staring down angrily at the floor; acting like it knew what he wanted to know and didn't want to tell him. Kendall sighed before he rested the box on the spot where the papers James shoved away were before he so generously moved them aside for him. He walked around the table into the kitchen, grabbing a stool resting by the counter, carrying it back over to where he was previously standing. Carlos and James, who by now was trying to calm down, watched him sit down on the stool. Kendall reached down and out his hand into the box, fussing around in his row to pull out the first piece of paper for him.

James and Carlos turned to one another, silently asking if they should follow his lead. They were both scared about doing this, seeing news reports on how dangerous and crazy this killer was. They never heard about him leaving challenges for those other family members he didn't take. For all they knew, they were the first that were being forced to do this. They listened as the rustle of the papers, and even the metal cling of the guns, stopped and Kendall's hand retracted from the box from hell. On the front was a small little sketch of a butterfly. The wings were orange with small black circles doted around the edges. The head was also black, the buzzers going well with the edge of the wings. The picture looked real. Real enough that Carlos thought the butterfly would fly off and start hovering around the room.

"He's a good artist." Carlos spoke the first words that have been said since Kendall proclaimed that they would do all the challenges as fast as they could and kill the killer. He pointed to the picture. "I guess that's how he got his name. Drawing pictures."

Kendall shrugged, not really one for deciding what was good art or what was bad. He turned it around to the other side, looking for anything else. All he saw was a 1 in red. But the color of red was weird. It wasn't bright red, but it also was a few shades darker than dark red. It wasn't black though. Kendall compared the two colors after flipping back and forth a few times. It was a weird kind of red.

"Dried blood." James answered, pointing his tan fingers to the back of Kendall's first piece of paper. "That's dried blood. It looks like the color on this dead body I saw."

Carlos turned to James, shocked at what he said. "When did you see a dead body?" he asked. James never mentioned something about a dead body before. If he did see one, Carlos would've been the first one he told. They had that connection where they told one another everything about their lives. Why would James hide this?

"I watched this cop show, can't remember the name, and they showed a dead body." James shrugged. Carlos felt relieved. At least James didn't see a dead body for real. Not yet anyway, he realized. If they failed, they would all see real dead bodies. Three of them to be exact. "The color matches."

"I don't wanna know whose blood this is." Kendall shook his head. He grabbed alongside the edges of the paper and started to open them up slowly. He didn't realize his heart was pumping faster than normal or that his fingers were shaking. He saw words when he finished opening the paper. A bunch of words actually. And they spelt out a message for him.

_Kendall Knight,_

_You're first challenge is for you to go to an abandoned factory and crawl through the dark tunnels inside. While it might sound easy, it actually isn't. You'll find out when you get there. You can take James and Carlos with you. I only want one of them done at a time anyway. Trust me; I'll know if you three do yours all at once._

_Good Luck. I know you can do it_.

Kendall let out a breath after he finished reading it out loud to his friends. Just like it said in the note, it did sound easy. What can be hard about crawling through tunnels in an abandoned factory? He almost opened his mouth to ask Logan, but realized that he wasn't here. He was so used to asking him questions that he didn't know the answer to. It just hit him how much he missed his friend's wisdom. He missed everything about him. Logan was a vital part of the group and the lack of communication that was shared between him, James, and Carlos was proof enough that Logan's presence was needed.

What made him feel weird was that the killer was wishing him luck. Almost as if he wanted him to complete his challenge and find him. Did the killer have an obsession with him? Did he want Kendall to succeed and find his family? Kendall was getting that feeling that he probably already knew who the killer was. The killer obviously wanted him and knew him, so did Kendall know him? Or was this just a way to play with his head and to make him question something he didn't have to? Even if he possibly knew, he would know for sure who the killer was when he found him.

If he found him.

He folded the note back into the square it was when he found it and placed it back inside the box. He looked back up to James and Carlos, who didn't say a word as he read the challenge to them. He narrowed his eyes. "Who wants theirs next?"

James and Carlos, again, looked to one another before they shrugged. Kendall took that as an answer to give both their first challenge. Kendall reached up to grab James', which was a picture of a scorpion, and Carlos', which was a picture of a chicken. James took his once it reached within his grasp, but Carlos was hesitant. He didn't like the way that the picture looked at him. He didn't like how that chicken looked so real with the amount of effort this guy put in to it. He didn't like that they were being forced to do this and to handle the fact that if they fail, half of their family they loved more than anything was dead.

Kendall didn't miss that look. "You don't have to take it now." He told him. Carlos looked from the paper to his blonde friend. "We can look at yours later if you want."

Carlos looked to James, who was nodding in agreement to Kendall. Carlos looked back to the paper, snagging it in one quick motion, almost like the paper would burn his hand if he went any slower.

James looked back to his paper. The scorpion was green. The stinger was drawn so it was standing up over its head, which looked all the more terrifying with the amount of detail that was placed into it. He almost didn't open, but knew that if Kendall could read his, he could also look at his own. He opened it slowly, not exactly in a big rush to see what was inside. He had a message too. Instructions on his challenge.

_James Diamond,_

_I hear you're the strongest out of all four of you boys. You certainly look the most fit out of all of them. But can you're body withstand an enormous amount of pain? Or are you as weak as I'm sure your spirit is right now?_

_Can you push aside your well-loved beauty and take marks that'll last a life time? Or will you show how selfish you really are?_

_Have fun._

"At least he didn't comment on how he admires your body with you, right Kendall?" James attempted a humor smirk. Even if he was really disgusted and scared by how his challenge sounded, he knew that the lack of talking was eating him up more than his fear.

Kendall smirked back. "Got me there. Mine doesn't sound as bad as yours does." He said. Kendall instantly realized that at the end of James' message, there weren't any words of encouragement. Not like there had been on his. His had a confidence boosting end while James' had a sarcastic end to it. Who could have fun when it came to having your body injured? Kendall was really now getting that feeling that the killer had some kind of affection for him that he didn't have for James.

Kendall didn't know of anyone that he met in his entire life that would do the acts that this guy had committed. He never met anyone who would get a kick out of kidnapping people and assaulting them before killing them and dropping them off somewhere. And he especially didn't know someone who would make up challenges to send to those of the families of the victims he took. The question was still up in the air about who this guy was.

"Crawling? Please, a baby could do that." James waved his hand off in a humor-filled manor as that feeling of tension oversided. He and Kendall were doing what they could to kill that feeling they didn't like and to try and bring back their usual joking selves into the fold. Needless to say it was kinda working and if it weren't for that box being right in their faces, this would seem like any other conversation.

"Babies can _**only**_ do that." Kendall reminded, starting to smile over those weird paranoias he was giving himself. "Crawling is their specialty. I can do it in my sleep." He joked.

"Should I read mine?" Carlos' voice was small as he spoke up over James and Kendall. The sound of defeat that Carlos released was enough to bring down the happy spirits that Kendall and James were working to give each other. They almost forgot Carlos was still there, waiting to read his own challenge.

"Not now if you don't want to." Kendall shook his head. Carlos looked so damn scared over a piece of paper when Kendall had never seen the boy scared of anything before in his entire life. Carlos was the bravest of their group. Always stepping up to do things that would make anyone else cringe when brought up. Seeing him scared over what was on the inside of a piece of paper was definitely a sight to see. It might've not been a good one, but it was something that someone wouldn't see often.

Carlos shook his head. "You guys read yours. I can read mine too. It's not fair if I don't." his fingers went to unfolding the white piece of paper that held his part in saving his family, but stopped not even halfway due to fear. "I can do it." He said when James opened his mouth to say something to the Latino. He went back to curling his fingers around the paper and opening it, doing his best to avoid looking at the blood 1 on the back of his paper.

_Carlos Garcia,_

_You're the brave one, right? The one who'll do anything if dared to? Well I got a dare for you right now._

_I dare you to take this challenge. To go and face a critical choice that won't end well. What that is is something you'll only see if you go. Will you take it and prove your bravery, or will you only show how much of a coward you are?_

_Goodbye_

"Why did he say goodbye?" Carlos asked. Reading the note out loud hadn't been as easy as Kendall and James made it out to be. Carlos stuttered a few times along the way and almost stopped altogether before the end. He knew his friends wouldn't hold it against him if he did, but he wanted to show that he was just as brave and strong as them right now. It wouldn't be fair if they went ahead and he chickened out. That wouldn't be right in his opinion.

"We're not doing yours first." Kendall declared, leaving almost no room for argument. "We're going in order based on which sounds easy. Mine, James', and then yours, Carlos." Kendall said. He didn't like how Carlos' message was written. It gave him really bad goosebumps that made him want to grab the note and hide it from everyone. The way it ended. The way the killer finished his message. Kendall didn't want to know what he meant until there was no time left to stall.

James nodded. "Yeah, I can live with that. Carlos?" he turned to his scared, shaking friend. He, along with his other two friends, didn't like how that note ended. There was some other hidden message in there other than the one that was written out for Carlos. James didn't know what, and he didn't want to know until Carlos' turn. He didn't like to think about it.

Carlos nodded his head shakingly. He wasn't in a rush to find out what the message was of his note. If the killer told Kendall good luck, and if he told James to have fun, why did he tell Carlos goodbye? Did he think he was that weak and that he won't get pass the first challenge? Carlos would prove that bastard wrong. He would do all of his challenges without any problems. He would prove the killer wrong.

Kendall stood up, handling the piece of paper in his hand with some care; not wanting to risk losing the address that was imprinted on the front under the message. He looked back into the box and suddenly remembered the guns. Why did they have guns? Would they need them? What exactly did this guy have planned for them? "How many do we take?"

The thought of even touching the guns hadn't crossed James or Carlos' minds at all. They forgot that they were even there. They didn't want to know that they were there. What were three seventeen year olds supposed to do with guns? And since a psycho killer sent them over, whom in the right mind would pick one up or take one out? They didn't even have licenses to use and carry. They could go to prison for having one out in the open.

James' hands found itself reaching inside the box and caressing the cold barrel of the gun in his row. All James could say was that it was black and big. He wasn't that big of a gun guy to begin with. He looked over to Carlos' gun. His was small and silver. Completely different than how his looked. Kendall's was white and had a larger barrel with a brown grip. Which would be the best to take out? It would be a good idea since they didn't know what was gonna go on.

"Carlos' is smaller; easier to hide. We'll take his." James pushed his aside to reach into Carlos' pile to take his gun. Holding the small weapon didn't suit well with James. It felt horrible to him to hold one, especially since it was one of these things that killed Logan's father when he was younger. If Logan saw him holding one, how would he react? He would probably feel betrayed that James was even touching one; but James was only doing it to save him. But if Logan wasn't caught, he wouldn't have a reason to hold one anyway. Unless if Mama Knight and Katie would've still been taken no matter what.

James felt guilt that he couldn't have stopped Logan's kidnapping. He was right there when Logan walked away. He should've gone with him. But he didn't and now he was gone. Gone and gonna die unless he steps up to save him. If Logan would be mad at him for holding a gun, he could rage at James all he wants after he drags him back home and puts the killer behind bars. James tucked the gun in his belt, hidden behind his back. He smoothed out his shirt so it wasn't seeable to those who just glanced. He could feel the barrel stick in his back uncomfortably. He just hoped if he sat down; the trigger wouldn't go off and shoot himself.

Carlos looked to the box. "Where do we hide this? Since…" he sucked up a shaky breath. "Since Logan, Katie, and Mama Knight are missing, the cops are gonna search here for any clues. My dad says its standard protocol." Carlos used his knowledge of policemen ways to bring up an important problem.

"Oh crap!" Kendall cursed, grabbing a chunk of his dirty blonde hair. "I forgot! Where do we hide this thing?" he looked to James and Carlos, expecting one of them to have an answer. Just because he was the leader didn't mean that he should come up with everything. Again, he wished Logan was here to not only be safe; but to also give them an answer on to how to properly hide something from the cops.

"Somewhere where the cops won't find it?" James offered, not sure how to respond to a freaking-out Kendall, which was something he didn't see a lot. The look of idiocy that Kendall was giving him made James want to go back in time and take back what he just said. It did sound pretty stupid now that he thought about it.

"No shit, James. Why do you think I'm panicking right now?" he asked. Kendall grabbed the box by the edges, leaving the lid plastered on the table. "Where the hell do we hide this thing without anyone finding it?" he glared at the box, like if the rectangular piece of cardboard was the reason this was happening. Ironically this box was the only reason they had a chance to find their loved ones. Kendall should be on the ground praising it instead of shaking and glaring at the thing like if it committed bloody murder.

"I wish Logan was here." Carlos brought up their missing friend's name. Kendall and James were frozen on spot when they actually heard his name out loud. Carlos might've given him a passing mention before, but now that he became the topic of discussion; Kendall let out the roar he was trying to hold.

"If he was here, we wouldn't have this problem!" he snapped at Carlos, who jumped when Kendall addressed him. "If he was here, then Mom and Katie would be here! This fuckin' box wouldn't be here, James wouldn't have a gun sticking out his ass, and I wouldn't be screaming right now!" Kendall's hands were making dents and rips into the box. James was about to explain that the gun wasn't sticking out his ass, but figured it was smart to not poke the bear when it was out and ready to strike. Staying quiet and watching was the safest thing to do.

Carlos was still shivering when Kendall screamed. He didn't mean to get him this angry. If he knew mentioning Logan would do this, he wouldn't have said anything at all. He never seen Kendall so angry before; so ready to strike and mutilate someone. Carlos kept thinking that those rips and dents in the box could've been his throat if Kendall wasn't already holding onto it. Like it or not, Carlos was scared of Kendall's rage; whether it was directed to him, or even a small box.

James took one look at Kendall and to Carlos before he decided to speak up. Poking the angry bear be damned. He would wrestle one if one of his friends was hurt by it. He stomped forward angrily and grabbed Kendall's wrists. "Stop acting like an ass for five seconds and look." He softened his gaze when he looked to Carlos, only to harden it when he looked back to Kendall. "You're scaring Carlos."

Kendall let out a few angry hoarse breathes before he took a real look at his shaking friend. Carlos' hands were covering his eyes while his knees started to shake greatly. He was letting out whimpers and looked close to falling over with how fast his knees were going. He looked to James, his tall friend's gaze making Kendall feel like a giant asshole. He deliberately hurt Carlos with his yelling. Now wasn't the time for that when they all got their assignments to do. Kendall needed Carlos. Not just for the challenges, but to be there and provide for him that sense of comfort he desperately needed. They already lost Logan, and look at what was happening. If Carlos was gone, Kendall would probably get himself into a mental home with how he'll be acting.

But he can't help it. Not only was his best friend gone, but his mother and sister was gone too. Kendall knew what the killer did. How far he went when it came to the torture. He not only physically tortured them, but also sexually. The fact that his mother and sister were in the hands of that _monster_ made Kendall want to keep acting as crazy as he did now. Images crawled into his head at an alarming rate of his family being assaulted by that horrible excuse for a human being. He wanted to scream again. Just yell until his lungs gave way. But James' gaze and Carlos' shaking held his fragile mind together for the time being.

"We know this is hard for you. That it must suck to know that your sister and mother are in this rapist's hands. Fine I won't kid you, it must suck fuckin' hard. But we will get them back, Kendall. But to do that, we need you calm and focused. You going all crazy and screaming won't help us get anywhere other than the pit of pain. Try and stay calm for now. Once we find this guy, yell and scream all you want. You have every right."

James' words struck a cord. Kendall felt himself listening to his words and unconsciously listening to him. He felt the rage go down into his chest, almost like he picked it up and put it away to be used later. He would definitely use it later, but for now; he needed to focus and get started on this road to finding the killer and his family.

Kendall nodded. "You're right, James. I need to stay calm and focus. There's plenty of time for yelling later." He looked to Carlos, who wasn't covering his eyes anymore, but still shaking. "I'm sorry, Carlos. I got a little carried away there with the yelling. I don't blame you for anything, I'm just angry. Angry that we have to do this. Can you forgive me?"

Carlos stopped his shaking to smile and nod at Kendall. He threw his arms around the boy for a brotherly hug. "It's okay to be mad, Kenny. You have every right to. Just…try and not have your outlet be me, alright?" he joked light-heartedly, slapping Kendall's rising chest from his chuckles.

"I can never get mad at you for anything, man. Don't ever worry about that."

James smiled at the sight of the two reconciling. The two of them needed to be at full-game for the dangers ahead. Being at full-game meant that Carlos couldn't be shaking and scared of Kendall and Kendall couldn't be all mad and angry at Carlos. The two needed to stay focused and be ready to help the other out, not bolt and run when they got the chance. He was just glad that he didn't have to knock some sense into Kendall for yelling at Carlos; which was so not cool in the first place.

James cleared his throat. "As much as I hate to say this, but we still need an idea as to where to hide that thing." James' tan fingers found their way pointing at the box still in Kendall's hands. "If someone we don't trust finds that, we are screwed big time." He didn't have the humor required to laugh at that small joke. Time to get serious.

Kendall nodded in agreement. "I agree. If the wrong person finds this, we lose our chance to find this guy. Carlos, before you even suggest thinking about taking this to the cops," he held his hand up when Carlos opened his mouth to talk. "Let's think this through. If we hand this in, then the cops will waste time to try and find out where it came from; giving us less time to find our family."

"Two weeks isn't exactly a lot of time when you have fifteen challenges to do. Even doing one row a day doesn't sound that great. Who knows how hard they'll be or what they'll do to us. Mines and Carlos' don't sound fun at all and Kendall's seems more like a joke, not something that should be taken serious."

"But since it's from a serial killer…" Carlos started.

"We _**have**_ to take it serious." James nodded, knowing where Carlos was going with this. "If it's a joke, we have to keep our guard up."

Kendall nodded in agreement. "So it's good I'm going first then." He eyed the box. "But we still don't have a clue as to what to do with this goddamn thing." His eyes brightened, almost like if he had an idea. "Idea!" See? "I know who we can take this too."

"You do? You better be right about this since I am seriously confused as to what to do now with hiding that thing." James nodded towards the box.

"She's good for it. Trust me." Kendall smiled.

…

"Please?"

Kendall, James, and Carlos moved on from the living room of their apartment to the hallway just outside of Jo Taylor's door. When Kendall said that he thought of her, James thought he was joking. He trusted Jo too, but she was really protective over her friends. If they told her what was inside the box and where they planned on going to do; James could hear the cops in the interrogation room right now. Laughing with their stupid coffee mugs; making a mess out of the box that was meant for him, Carlos, and Kendall. He was already pissed and they haven't even gotten to that point yet.

Carlos thought the idea was a good one. He trusted Jo a lot. They were friends. She respected her friends' privacy and was always willing to lend out a helping hand for them. She even agreed to help Carlos with his dolphin dive outside the 2J window into the pool when no one else would; not wanting any part in Carlos' death. He remembered Logan chastising him about how the idea would only end with him getting sent to the hospital for multiple injuries. Carlos half-wondered if he would come up with a stupid idea to hurt himself, would Logan come back just to lecture him? He would take his lectures to have him back, even if it did kill off his fun.

Kendall watched the posture of his ex-girlfriend turn to the box he was holding under his armpit. He thought of her because there was that certain level of trust that he had with her after being with her for so long. He trusted her a lot, and was probably the only one right now whom he could trust this box with. He wouldn't of course tell her what was inside and where he planned to go, but he was sure he wouldn't have to. At least he hoped to God he didn't have to. He didn't know how to explain to her that half of their family was kidnapped. He couldn't think of any ways. She would have to hear from the news when the cops no doubt found out. The time that they had right now with no vultures around wasn't something Kendall was gonna waste. The faster they moved, the faster they got their family back.

"Any particular reason why you want me to watch a box?" she asked, raising a trimmed eyebrow at the three boys in front of her door. "Not that I don't wanna help, just curious why you want me to watch a box."

Kendall looked quickly to James and Carlos, both giving him a shrug. This was his idea to bring it to her; it was his problem to convince her to take it. For them, they're more contempt with just watching Kendall goof around to try and find an answer that Jo will buy. Laughter was something that was gonna be missed by them when they officially started their challenges; best to take it while they can.

"Because I trust you with my most prized possessions a lot?" Kendall's answer came out like a question, almost as if he didn't buy the answer himself. He was berating himself for not thinking straight when he came up with the answer. Jo was a smart girl. One slip up and they'll be caught like mice in a mouse trap. Stuck with nowhere to run.

"He says he loves how he can always count on you." James stifled his laugh when he saw the looks Jo and Kendall were sending his way. He couldn't choose whose was the most hilarious. "He's happy he can always count on his female best friend."

Carlos nodded quickly. "Yeah, he said that." Carlos vouched for James, giving him a small fist bump. Carlos joined in so Kendall wouldn't slip and get them caught. He could see that Kendall was slipping around and not having the foggiest idea where to go with his answer. Sure he also said it to get some laughs in, but that was secondary.

Jo stopped looking at the grinning duo to look at her ex. "Why couldn't you just say that?" she took the box from him with a light smile on her face. "Did you think I'll say no?"

'If you knew what was inside, then hell yeah you'll say no!' Kendall answered her in his head, keeping it inside to avoid unnecessary drama. He smiled back at her with a grin. "Maybe."

"I'm always ready to help." She looked to Carlos. "Although sometimes I regret it." She referenced the time she helped Carlos dolphin dive out of the window of his apartment and into the pool. She had to make sure there was no one around for him to hurt and no objects damaged him greatly. Needless to say, Carlos jumped out and landed on his 'cubes'. Jo still winced every time she thought of it.

Carlos winced at the reminder. "I said I would never do it again." He reminded her.

James scoffed. "Yeah right. You'll do it again but you'll make sure you're wearing a cup to protect your future children."

"True."

Jo looked behind Kendall and saw that there was one boy missing. "Where's Logan?"

The question made the three of them freeze. They were just ready to bounce and head for Kendall's location before she asked the question. Why did things always have to go badly for them sometimes. James looked to Carlos, who looked to Kendall, who looked back to James. All three didn't want to answer, scared that something was gonna slip out and then Jo will know the truth.

James sighed, knowing that they needed to say something before Jo got more suspicious. "Logan's, ummm…Logan's, uhhh…" he tapped his foot in impatience.

"Sick!" Carlos blurted out a random word, saving James from humiliation. "Logan's sick."

Jo grew concerned. "Is he okay? Do you want someone to check on him? My mom's a nurse, I know a few things."

Kendall waved his arm in dismissal, itching closer behind James and Carlos. "He's fine." He assured. "Sleeping it off like a champ. He'll be all better by the morning, the tough little guy." He hissed in James' ear. "Fix your shirt!" Kendall saw the grip of the gun sticking out from James' backside. James stumbled to fix his shirt. That, along with Kendall moving around weirdly, made a great show for Jo. "Thanks again, Jo. We'll be back for it in a few hours." He started the walk over to the elevator.

James felt the gun hidden behind the fabric of his shirt, giving his friend a wave goodbye and a sprint to catch up to Kendall. Carlos waved too before he ran to catch up to them, disappearing as the elevator door closed.

Jo shook her head. "As much as I love those guys, they are weird as hell." She stepped back with the box in her hands, closing her door behind her. "I wonder what's in here." She moved the box at different angles to get a better look at it. "Seems ripped and dented." She noted, taking in the sight of the marks Kendall left behind. She shook it. "Something's definitely in there." She noted. She wrapped her fingers around the edge of the lid, fighting with her subconscious to open it. She stopped. "This is their box. Their stuff, not mine. They didn't say I could look at it. I'll respect their privacy."

Later on, she would regret that.

…

"Get up!"

Logan was kicked in the side by someone's boot. His head was throbbing with pain as he tried to remember where he was. A van? Probably due to the shape of the space he was in. It was dark, minus the light of the setting sun coming from the opening that the door made. He looked behind him and saw that there were two men grabbing Mrs. Knight and Katie's tied up forms. They were awake now, muffling against the tape on their mouths and against their restraints. Seeing them like that made Logan want to kill the men holding them, but he wouldn't win that fight in his condition and for the fact it was two-against-one. He would've tried anyway.

"Sucks to see people you know and care for like that, right?" Logan remembered this guy to be the guy driving the van before. The one who complained about not being able to have 'fun' with Mrs. Knight. The one who seemed so friendly with the killer. Logan didn't give him an answer, only a glare. "He can do other stuff other than cry and sleep!" he sounded amazed for some reason.

Logan humored him. "Why do you say that?"

"During the ride here, all you did was cry in your sleep about how this shouldn't be happening. I wanted to shoot you so you'll stop."

"I'm not doing it now." Logan noted.

"True," he nodded. He grabbed his arm, pulling him from the side door of the van. "Ready to see your home for the next two weeks?" he asked. Logan glared again at him, this time adding in a growl. This guy was talking to him like if he was a child. He was practically an adult, and mature for his age too. To be talked to like this wasn't something he particularly enjoyed. This is how Carlos would talk to him to try and get him riled up for what ever scheme he had planned out.

Thinking of the boy's name reminded Logan about how much he missed him; missed James and Kendall. He missed all three of his best friends. They didn't even know he was gone, let alone Katie and Mrs. Knight. When they found out, Logan can see Kendal yelling and screaming at anyone and everything, breaking things as he went along.

He pitied who was in his path when he found out.

He ignored the guy's question, trying to move his aching head to find Katie and Mrs. Knight. He could see through the window that someone new was carrying a fussing Katie and that another, who Logan instantly recognized as The Painter Killer himself, haul a shaking Mrs. Knight over his shoulders. At least they were alive, that counted for something. And he had to make sure it stayed that way until Kendall and the rest found them.

The place where they were being carried to was a three story house out in the middle of nowhere as far as Logan could tell. It was painted white, with the door being a sky blue color, which was easy to see in the quickly darkening scenery. There were four windows on each floor, all barred from the looks of it. Obviously it was made that way so no one driving by could look up and see what was going on inside.

It sucked, Logan thought. Just like the situation he was in. He didn't say anything as he was led to his new 'home', more like prison. All he was doing was thinking about what to do once inside. He would need to find Katie, find Mrs. Knight, and hatch a plan for escape. Would it work? Probably not. Was Logan gonna try? Damn right.

He just had to stall until Kendall found them. If there was anything Logan knew about his best friend, it was that he wouldn't stop until he found them. Logan just hoped and wished he can escape before Kendall arrived. He didn't want to stay here, in this hell hole, but it wasn't like he had a choice.

Until he could leave, he would need to draw on Kendall's strength and protect his family for him. It's what Kendall would do. And Logan would be damned if he let something happen to them because he was weak.

His countdown clock had started.

…

"Right spot?"

Carlos asked as he looked over the building of the abandoned factory where Kendall would begin his challenge. Boxes were piled up in the front; bricks were broken off of the wall, which provided them with their entry point. There were butterflies sketched on some of the boxes, and got more and more defined as they traveled down the stone path.

James nodded, still wiggling his ass every now and then because of the gun that was in his rear. He looked over Kendall's paper, while the blonde was a few paces ahead; looking at the butterflies as he traveled down. "Yeah. The address matches the one over on by the door over there."

"And we couldn't use that, why?" Carlos asked, shoving a brick out of his path with the side of his foot.

"If he made a path with the butterflies, I assume that means I have to follow them." Kendall spoke from a few inches ahead, passing by another butterfly on the piles of boxes.

James nodded. "True."

Kendall stepped over a brick, reaching the gated fence that was at the end of the path. James and Carlos stopped on his left and right sides to look on ahead past the gate. They couldn't see a butterfly, but they guessed they had to come this way. If not for the fact that there wasn't anywhere else to go. Kendall reached to go first, but James' much bigger hand stopped him.

"I'll go first," he said, reaching through the opening in the fence. He was still skeptical about what Kendall's message was about, figuring that something was up with it due to how easy it sounded compared to the rest. James would do what it took to protect Kendall and Carlos, and that meant making sure that Kendall had an easier time completing his challenge. James looked around the scenery. Forward was another hole in the fence, which had some electric generators on the other side of it; which were still active from the sound of it. James thought this place was supposed to be abandoned? On the floor below him, there was another butterfly that was hard to see in this darkening light. The sun was setting on them after a long day. They just wished that they had more of it to do what they had to do.

Carlos stepped forward, stopping by the hole. James didn't comment about the lack of safety, so Carlos assumed that it was safe enough. Plus nothing happened to him so far, so that was good. Carlos bent down, sticking his legs one-by-one through the opening and beside James. Pulling his torso across, Carlos was on the other side with James, unscathed from getting through.

"My turn." Kendall muttered. Unlike Carlos, he stuck his head through first. He shoved his arms through the opening and followed his legs right after. Kendall didn't know why they had to go first when there was obviously nothing wrong with the fence. Kendall was on the other side next to his friends in the same position as they were in before on the other side of the fence.

"One more." James noted, going through the second opening, feeling the difference of earth as he touched down on grass compared to concrete. The sounds of the active transformers were making him paranoid due to the fact that this place was supposed to be abandoned. Why were the transformers on when this was supposed to be abandoned? Was there something that they just weren't getting yet? Probably. James wouldn't put it past a serial killer to surprise them with something.

Carlos went through next, his feet bouncing off from the concrete over to the grass. He also heard the sounds of the active transformers and immediately began to question why. Wasn't this place supposed to be empty? Wasn't it supposed to be only them here? Did Carlos miss something? Did they read the note wrong? He joined James next to him by the fence, waiting for Kendall to hop on by.

Kendall pushed one leg forward, using the momentum to get his body through. His left arm was the last to make it through. He gasped in pain as he clutched his finger, James and Carlos on him in about a nanosecond. "I'm fine." He assured them, showing the trail of blood that was going down his finger. "I just cut it on the fence." He looked back to the fence, seeing that in the presence of the hole, there were shards of glass emitted on the fence, Kendall's drops of blood on one of the shards towards the bottom.

"Does it hurt?" Carlos asked, looking down to Kendall's bloody finger. It was bad luck for him to get cut while he and James came out without any marks on them. They just couldn't believe that they missed seeing the shards of glass that were in the way.

"That cut looks bad." James eyed down on Kendall's injury. Kendall's skin was ripped slightly, more blood coming out each time he tried to wipe off the trails that were already in sight. It didn't look like it'll get infected, but it still looked like it hurt slightly.

Kendall scoffed at their worried attitudes. "My finger is fine, guys. Just a small cut. Compared to everything that Carlos received growing up, this here is like nothing." He smirked when they chuckled and nodded at his words. "Let's keep going." He stood past them and walked ahead, keeping up with the trail of butterflies that were left for him. James and Carlos stayed a few feet away like they did when they first arrived, just in case if Kendall needed to act quickly for whatever reason. This was his challenge afterall, not theirs. They still needed to find the tunnels that he had to crawl in.

Kendall kept his eyes peeled out for anything abnormal, only hearing the sound of the transformers that were coming from his left. Why would transformers in an abandoned factory still be up and running? Isn't the whole point of something being abandoned meaning that there wasn't supposed to be anything left? Did the killer lie to them and this place wasn't abandoned? Well the boxes out by the front, along with the hole that got them in said that this place was empty. But who forgot to turn off the power?

Kendall stopped when he found a door that read 'Employees Only.' Kendall, being the rebel that he is, entered the door, holding it sturdy so James and Carlos could follow after him. The sound of the door closing echoed now that they were inside a room. A cold and damp room to be exact. There was a pipe in the room, opened and reeking of disgusting smells. There was a book of matches that were placed on the opening, out for someone to take. Probably someone blonde?

James looked to Kendall. "Looks like this is where you go." He noted, seeing the pipe led to the tunnels of the factory. Kendall was on his own from here. He would have to crawl through and find his way out to get their first clue. At least the killer was nice enough to give him matches so he didn't get lost in there.

"Good luck, Kendall." Carlos gave him a pat on the back, scared greatly for his friend. None of them knew what was in there. For all they knew, there could be monsters in there. Monsters that would be ready to snack on Kendall's face once he gone inside. Even then those monsters still wouldn't be as bad as the killer that was making him do this.

Kendall sighed. "Wait here for me. I'm gonna go, get the clue, and come right back. I won't be long." He stepped forward to the pipe. The book of matches lay ready for him to pick up. Kendall was wishing that the challenge would be as easy as it sounds, but the killer made it clear in his note that it wouldn't be. That something else would complicate this. Kendall grabbed the matches and looked back to the worried faces of James and Carlos. He smiled. "I'll be back. I'm not going anywhere." He promised.

James and Carlos nodded back with small smiles of their own. "We know you aren't."

Kendall nodded before he stuck his head inside of the dark tunnel. Lighting a quick match and seeing that he couldn't see that far ahead anyway, Kendall stuck his body inside of the pipe, adjusting his position so he was lying on his stomach. He shimmied his legs, pushing his chest forward and his body deeper into the tunnel. He heard James tell Carlos he was gonna hold the door to the pipe so it didn't close on him. Kendall was grateful. The last thing he needed was to get stuck in here.

He hated how it was hard to see where he was going. It made him vulnerable to whatever horrors were inside this tunnel. With each crawl, it felt like Kendall was being pushed down on his back and kicked in the ass. It was so tight in here. He needed to get out of here as fast he could before he became claustrophobic.

Sticking his hand out forward, he immediately pulled back when it touched ground.

"Woah!" Kendall screamed as he clutched his hand to his chest, not sure what exactly just happened.

"Kendall? What happened?"

Kendall heard Carlos ask the question, the fear not being held back from his tone. Looking down at the matches in his hand, Kendall took one out and lit it, shocked at the sight in front of him.

A bunch of broken glass lay ahead and didn't look like it was gonna stop anytime soon.

"Glass," Kendall muttered. "A bunch of broken glass." He said a little louder so James and Carlos could hear him.

"Is there anyway you can go around it?" James asked the blonde, still holding the pipe door open for when he came back.

"No," Kendall shook his head. "I can't move it aside."

"Then what are you gonna do?" Carlos asked. "Crawl through it?"

There was the twist. The twist to crawling in a tunnel. It was filled with glass that was as sharp as a razor. Damn this guy was good, Kendall commented. He was a creative asshole, that's for sure.

James shook his head fiercely at Carlos. "Don't be silly. Kendall wouldn't go through with this, would he?" he looked into the tunnel. "Would you?" he called. He didn't wait. "Come back man. We'll go around and find another way to get the clue."

Kendall thought about it before he made his choice. He turned his head to James and Carlos before he spoke to them.

"I'm gonna…"

End of Chapter 3 of Heavy Blood

I really loved writing this chapter a lot and I hoped all of you enjoyed reading it too. I worked hard on this. My favorite part was probably the beginning, as it felt really emotional to me. Kendall snapping and getting angry is always a blast to do. He's just so wild when it comes to his family.

What were your favorite parts and do you think Kendall will keep on going, or find another way around the glass?

Next Time: Shards Covered With Blood


	4. Shards Covered With Blood

Disclaimer: Don't own Big Time Rush

AN: **Many people were interested to see if Kendall would crawl on through or turn back. You'll be glad to know that the answer is in this chapter. And some of you requested more Logan screen time. Again, you get that here too. Thanks to all of those that reviewed, favorited and alerted; it means a lot.**

**Enjoy.**

Chapter 4- Shards Covered With Blood

Logan never knew he could hate someone as much as he did the people that he had met within these last three minutes.

After the Painter Killer goon, which is what Logan called him since he didn't even know the guy's name; not that he even wanted to know, dragged him off from the van towards the house they stopped by, Logan realized a lot about how much hatred can grow. After being pulled viciously through the front yard, which resulted in Logan's shoes getting torns in the bottom, he could hear what was going on inside of the building. Cries of pain, cries of desperation, and cries of reluctance were all that he heard. It wasn't Mama Knight or Katie, but Logan still couldn't stand the sound of those horrible cries. Once the goon opened the door, Logan was able to get a glance of what was going on inside; the sight in which made him want to haul and run.

Many variety of women, all shapes and sizes, were being held here against their will. How can Logan tell they were being held against their will? They were all crying and begging their respective captors to please allow them to leave, missing their families, friends, and every other loved ones in their life. Some of the guys here seemed to take pride in hearing the cries that these poor women were exhibiting, while others didn't take so kindly to it and either slapped or punched them, depending on how annoyed they were with the constant whining and begging.

When he was thrown into the house after hesitating to take another step into this disgusting tenth circle of hell; all eyes, both the victims and abusers, turned to him. Just by the way they were looking at him; Logan thought he would die right there from lack of oxygen. He felt so out of place around these people, and not just for the fact he was the only male here that wasn't one of the abusers; but because he was a kid. Sure he might almost be an adult, turning eighteen in just a few months, but he was still a kid according to the state. A kid that was now thrown from his abnormal life of hockey player-turned-pop-star to a kid kidnapped and caught in a serial killer's game. A game that Logan didn't want to know the rules to. But if he wanted any hope of getting out of here and finding Katie and Mrs. Knight, he would need to find a rulebook and read it very carefully.

Too bad that the rulebook for The Painter Killer's game wasn't available for purchase. Logan would have to observe and make up his own.

The abusers seemed to know why he was here and whom he was taken by, as they ignored him after looking at the goon that still had his hand tightly around Logan's upper-arm. The victims, the women Logan was feeling so bad for with each passing second, seemed to know why he was here too, as the ones who weren't either crying, begging, or getting assaulted on the expensive looking furniture, shot him looks of pity and apology, probably knowing what he was gonna endure and wishing that they could do more to warn him. If anyone should feel bad, it was Logan because when he figured out how to get out of here, he wouldn't be able to take these dozen women with him. But he would come back with the cops to set them free when he got the first chance to. Either that, or Kendall and the rest would find him first and set them all free along with him.

Being dragged again, Logan was pulled past the door at the opposite end of the hall, a flight of stairs going up and down waited for him on the other side. The goon here started pulling him up, Logan almost tripping over each step because of his lack of ability to move his own two feet at the moment. He could feel the blood in his upper-arm begin to stop going through, the grip that this guy had on him tightening with each moment. Logan wouldn't be surprised if there was a gigantic bruise on his arm when this guy let go.

Reaching another door, Logan stopped tripping and was back to being dragged by the helms of his feet as the goon brought him further into the house's second floor. Logan didn't know how many doors he was dragged passed, but it was a lot; roughly ten or fifteen on each side of the narrow path of the hallway. They were three floors in this house by the way Logan noticed the architecture of the building from the outside. If all floors had this many rooms on them, minus the first floor; which only had that one room with all of those poor women, how in the hell was he supposed to find Katie and Mrs. Knight? He wouldn't be able to check half of the rooms on one side before he was to get caught, and that was only if he was lucky. If he was gonna bust them out of here, he would need to learn exactly where they were being held before he made his escape plan. He couldn't afford any screw-ups, considering that he was going up against not just The Painter Killer, who alone was enough trouble, but at least another twelve or thirteen criminals to boot. One little mess-up or error in his plan, and then Logan will end up either dead or tortured worse than what he'll most likely endure while he came up with the plan.

By the way the news reports beforehand of the killer's activities sounded, the guy liked to torture his victims before he moved on to do other things to them. Logan didn't know exactly what kind of torture he'll have to face, not to mention just what Katie and Mrs. Knight might have to endure, but he'll stick it out to rescue them. Logan would take all the torture in the world to make sure they stayed safe. No longer could he stay the boy that was scared of everything and everyone. He would need to become a brave and courageous man that could take anything thrown at him.

He needed to become Kendall Knight 2.0.

Finally feeling his feet stop being dragged across the wooden floor, the goon, who hadn't said a word to Logan since he pulled him out of the van, reached into his pockets to search for the key to the room they stopped by, which is probably the thirteenth door on the right side. Logan needed to remember that. His arm was finally released from its death-grip; too which Logan found his hands rushing to clutch the skin that was ruined by this guy's iron grip. Like he guessed, there was a giant purple bruise plastered on his upper-arm, spreading over to his bicep. It would heal, Logan concluded after looking it over while this guy did his work to unlock his door. Could he run? Yes. Would he get far? Absolutely not. Logan had more disadvantages going for him than he did advantages; the sense being that he had _**no **_advantages that he could use. He didn't even know the building well, or at all for that matter. Just that small path he was dragged across from the van to this door. But even if he followed that path back, he would still be trapped by a dozen criminals. He couldn't win now. The best thing to do would be to learn his surroundings.

The first rule Logan learned was to never run when you had nowhere to go.

When this idiot finally found the right key to the door, Logan was grabbed around the shoulders by the goon and thrown into the room, the strength of the guy knocking Logan to the soft ground of his carpeted new prison. It wasn't even a room; just a prison cell in a house-shaped prison. Logan was awed by the fact that the room actually looked like a room. A nice queen-sized bed lay in the far corner of the room with two white pillows to match the sheets. A dresser lay next to the door he was tossed in by, most likely not having any clothes or anything in it. The same that could be said for the closet that was by the door in the far-back, which was opened to reveal a bathroom. The one window that Logan could see was barred shut, only faint glimmers of sunlight getting in from the small openings the bars gave. All in all, without the barred window, this place could pass off as a real room.

Which Logan was terrified about slightly. When you realize that you are being held prisoner in a nice house and given a nice room as your cell, you tend to think that there's some dark stuff lurking somewhere within these walls. Logan sat through enough horror movies with Carlos to know that when there's something that looks too good to be true, something always happened to remind you of the horror that you were witnessing.

While all those other times Logan watched, he was now taking action.

The goon hovered over Logan's tossed body, making Logan remember exactly how he ended up on the floor. He shouldn't take in how marveled and shocked he was on how the killer made the room-cell look like any other room, minus the barred windows of course. He should be putting up a brave façade to this guy, let him know that he wasn't to be messed with. But with the sick smirk the guy gave him, Logan found himself whimpering out a sound of fear.

So much for being Kendall Knight 2.0.

"I take it your impressed with the way the room looks?" he casually leaned against the doorframe, marveling at the sight himself; acting like he hadn't brought at least a few dozen people up here before. It made Logan think how people can just be okay with heinous acts like the ones these guys were doing? The poor women, all the victims of The Painter Killer, and now him and his family? Where was the line drawn for these guys?

If they even had one.

Logan placed pressure on his arms to use as leverage to get himself up off the ground, which sent a shot of pain into his arm that was bruised greatly. Some cold water would help with that. Thank God that there was a bathroom he can use. Wobbling slightly due to losing balance from his bruised arm, Logan pulled himself up after taking a second to recover from the sudden pain.

"Aren't you?" the guy asked again, this time sounding less patient and rational than he did before. Logan made a quick note that this guy lost patience quickly. If he didn't give an answer, he would find the bruise on his arm as just one of many on his body.

Rule Two of The Painter Killer Game Manuel was to answer on the first time you're spoken too. At least when it came to the 6'3 goon right here.

He cleared his throat, acting like that was the reason he didn't answer right away. "It's…interesting to say the least." He hoped his answer didn't land another bruise somewhere on his body. He almost sighed in relief when the guy nodded at him, which he kept inside due to it showing that he was feeling scared; which he couldn't show to anyone here.

"The Painter Killer wants his vic-guests to feel as comfortable as possible while he sets up the games that he likes to play with them." Logan could very well hear the laughter rolling off of this guy's tongue. He might as well have said that he was gonna be tortured and he should prepare so he didn't get killed right away.

"Mind if I ask what kind of games?" Logan asked, not knowing where that question came from. It was like his common sense was left inside of the black van he was hauled here in. Why would his brain make his mouth ask a question that he wouldn't get answered? And why one that might possibly end in Logan getting an ass-kicking? This just wasn't his day.

The goon, Logan was really starting to find the nickname atrocious, let loose that laughter he was trying to hide when he talked before. Logan didn't know where this guy's sanity laid at, but with a laugh like this one; you know you had to have psychological problems. Logan kinda preferred this guy when he was quiet and angry. At least then Logan didn't have to make conversation with him, which in turn got him crazy shit like this. At least Logan found a new nickname for him, Psycho-Laughing Jackass.

Psycho-Laughing Jackass coughed to clear his throat after his little giggle-fest there. He attempted to make himself look professional, well at least as professional as you can get in this guy's line of work; which consisted of a neutral face with your arms crossed at your chest.

He stared at Logan. "Are you athletic?" Logan was appalled by the sudden question. Remembering rule two, he nodded. "Smart?" Again, Logan nodded. "Brave?" Logan hesitated, but nodded anyway, needing to lie to keep his courageous image standing tall. "Risky?" he gave one last nod. Psycho-Laughing Jackass shrugged. "It still probably won't be enough." He answered in all honesty, making Logan stumble in place at the ridiculous answer. What the hell was this killer gonna do to him? More importantly, what was he gonna do to Katie and Mrs. Knight? Should he ask? Intelligence wise, the answer was no. But his heart told him yes. He needed to know where they were, even if he got another bruise in the process.

It's what Kendall would do.

"Where's Katie and Mrs. Knight?" his voice came out a lot stronger than he thought it would sound. He expected it to come out as nothing but a squeak, something that would make him out to be the coward that he was trying to keep inside. He actually sounded brave. He actually sounded like Kendall for a second. Logan had to hold back the grin that was just dying to find its way on his face, for if he let it out, the consequences would be bad for him.

Psycho-Laughing Jackass stared at Logan's brave stare, finding his question to be plausible. The kid had a right to know. It's not like he can get to them anyway. From what The Painter Killer said, Logan was the weakest out of all four of Big Time Rush, which was why he was chosen as the one out of the four to be kidnapped. He had nothing to worry about from him. "Being held in other rooms. Don't worry; they're alive if that's what you wanted to know. If they stay that way is completely up to you." He answered.

Logan could breathe easier knowing that they were alright. He didn't even care that the guy said that their living status would depend on him. He already knew that. He knew that he had to be the one to keep them alive until either Kendall found them or he made up an escape plan. As much as Logan believed it, he couldn't hold out for hope that Kendall would find them. No one found the killer yet. His identity was still unknown by all, apparently even Psycho-Laughing Jackass over here. Or maybe he did know and just wasn't telling in case Logan got the word out? Probably not, but Logan wouldn't get the guy to tell him the identity anyway. When and if Kendall found them, Logan still needed to try and escape on his own. Sitting around and waiting wouldn't work here, as much as he would love to. It wasn't like he was stuck here until someone found him; he had a time limit. He had roughly two weeks until his death, and he needed to make every second count for it.

"You start tomorrow."

Starting tomorrow apparently.

Psycho-Laughing Jackass turned his back to the brunette, offering no parting words for Logan, only the sound of the door closing on him. Logan finally managed to gasp out now that the fear of getting pummeled was gone. It wasn't wrong for him to feel scared when he was about to endure torture that ended up killing a dozen people. His arm bruise forgotten, he stumbled his way over to the bed, falling against the soft mattress with a delighted thud. He hated how this room showed prisoners a sense of normality. The room was just an illusion painted by The Painter Killer to get the victims off-guard before He struck and attacked them. Not Logan, though. His guard would remain up until he found the Knight women and got out of here.

Dragging himself up towards the inviting pillows, Logan rested his head on one of them; using the other one to cover his face. He didn't want to see this crappy illusion. He didn't want to see just how much things appeared to be normal. Any other predicament and Logan would think he was on vacation with the room he was resting in. He needed to keep reminding himself where he was, who was around, and what needed to be done. One slip-up, one mistake, and he would not only get himself killed, but Katie and Mrs. Knight too. Logan was sure if that happened, Kendall would kill him anyway.

Now that he wasn't being watched or bruised, he realized just how much he missed his friend. He missed his brothers, missed the way they would drag him into their crazy schemes and how much they got him riled up. He missed Camille, his loving girlfriend that he was pretty sure he was in love with. Never before has he felt this way about a girl in his life. It was hard to believe that only a few hours ago, everything was the way it should be, but now it was all ruined; all destroyed thanks to one asshole.

Kendall, James and Carlos are sure to see that their missing now. That their brother, sister and mother were taken by the most dangerous criminal in L.A. history. He could very well assume that Kendall was on a rampage, trampling everyone and everything he sees. James would probably be trying to calm Kendall down, or he would be rampaging with him. Carlos would most likely be crying or in denial. He never did like it when something bad happened to one of them. Now that Logan thought about it, Carlos could be there with James and Kendall in their rampage across the world. Those three were not something to be tampered with when one of their family was in danger. Like when they found out Logan was being bullied in the fourth-grade. Logan still laughed when he pictured his bully's face after James, Carlos and Kendall got to him.

Inhaling the fresh scent of the pillow covering his face, Logan rolled over to his side, the one that wasn't bruised, and tried to get some sleep. Because, according to Psycho-Laughing Jackass, Logan would be in for a long day tomorrow. The first out of two weeks.

Damn these next two weeks were gonna suck hard, big time.

…

James and Carlos stood in shock at Kendall's answer. Did they hear him right? Did the blonde just say what they thought he said?

He was gonna go!?

James and Carlos were appalled at his answer. Just how the hell can Kendall expect to crawl through a tunnel filled with glass and survive? What, did he think he would survive just because he was too stubborn to die? Newsflash Kendall, that wouldn't matter at all when you're bleeding out.

"Did you guys hear me? I said I'm going."

James shook his head. "I heard you the first time!" he stuck his head into the tunnel, only able to catch a glimpse of Kendall's foot from the small flicker of light the match was giving. "Are you nuts?" his voice echoed through the tunnel, sounding louder to Kendall than it should have.

Kendall held the match forward, capturing the sight of the broken glass with the dim glow. It was all one path as far as he could tell. The glass were as sharp as a razor edge blade, if the stab wound Kendall now had on his hand was any indication. Drops of blood were echoed as the piece of glass that stabbed him was now slowly being covered in his blood. Small, but deadly indeed. The tunnel didn't seem to go on for long, since another light can be faintly seen at the end as Kendall's match died out. Just a small crawl. Nothing too bad.

Kendall turned his head, only capturing the left side of James' head in his vision. "Not nuts. Just willing."

"Willing to what? Stab yourself to death?" James' voice roared. Kendall sighed, somewhat annoyed by James' behavior. He should've known that something bad would come of this. They were doing challenges given by a serial killer to get pieces to a photo where he was keeping his mother, sister and Logan. Dumb and bad stuff were sure to happen after they knew that. James couldn't honestly expect Kendall to back out when he was already halfway in the tunnel. Kendall never backed out from stuff, especially when he was already halfway done.

"I won't stab myself to death." He tried to ease James' fear and concern. That's all this was about. James was just scared about what might happen to him since he was in a tunnel filled with glass. Sure it would hurt, Kendall knew that; but he accepted it gladly. He always said in the past that he would do anything for his family. Why should this be any different? Just because he was being assigned a challenge by a serial killer? That gave Kendall more of a reason to do this.

James' voice wasn't the next one he heard, shockingly, it was Carlos; who had all but stayed quiet after Kendall gave his answer. Carlos was scared too, that much Kendall knew. They were just being overprotective of him since they already lost half of their family. They didn't want anything to happen that'll ruin what was left of them. "Kendall…I believe in you."

Carlos sounded so strong, so confident in Kendall, but also scared; which he had every right to be. Kendall couldn't see him, as James' big head and this tiny tunnel were preventing him from seeing more than half of James' face. Kendall might've not been able to see him, but he was sure Carlos was giving him one of those brave looks he had whenever he was dared to do something. Funny how four little words seemed to put James at peace, at least from what Kendall could see, since he backed out of the tunnel, his strong hand still holding the pipe open on the small chance Kendall wanted to leave.

"Close it," Kendall suddenly ordered, making James stick his head back in the tunnel to look at him in what appeared to be confusion. "You guys go around and try and find the other side of where this tunnel goes. Like I said before," he turned back to look at the broken glass path. "I'm going."

James seemed to hesitate before he nodded his head at his friend, backing up all so slowly. He stopped mid-way. He seemed to be thinking about saying something. He cleared his throat. "Kendall," said boy turned back. James gave him a nod. "I believe in you too." James backed out and closed the pipe, the sound of metal slamming against the surface beating against Kendall's head.

James looked at the pipe for a little bit longer, fighting off the urge he had to open it back up and try and convince Kendall to come back out. He turned to see Carlos staring back at him, both of them sharing the scared look they wanted to not show. It wasn't wrong that they were scared that Kendall would get hurt in there. That tunnel had broken glass for god's sake! But, they knew ultimately it was his choice. This was his challenge after all. His choice in whether or not he went through with it. Kendall would respect that when it was their turn.

Carlos placed a hand on James' shoulder, giving the taller boy a nod. "Kendall won't die in there." He assured both James and himself. Just the idea of Kendall somehow failing and dying in there was enough to send shivers up their spines. It was a risky move, crawling on sharp glass, but it was his choice to make. If he wanted to do anything other than crawl forward, he woulda turned back. They had to meet him on the other side. They had to be there when he came out of the tunnel, no doubtly with cuts to last a lifetime. They couldn't do that standing here and worrying about the possible failure. If something went wrong, they'll go in, crawl themselves and drag his stubborn ass out. One way or another, Kendall was making it out of a tunnel.

James nodded at the simple sentence, feeling like the small words were enough to get him to move from his spot in front of the pipe. James let Carlos guide him through the small damp room and back out into the outside world, the sun having gone down and the sky turning from blue to black. Wow, even the sky matched how James was feeling about the whole situation they were in. One moment everything was bright and cheery, like the blue sky, and then it all went to hell and died, like the black sky he was facing with now. James almost forgot that he had a gun in his backside. After Carlos made sure the door was staying open when they left, in case they needed to rush back in here, James reached back and pulled out the silver gun that the killer gave to Carlos, running his stiff fingers across the cold handle.

He kept wondering on the ride over here if he would have to use it. Why else would the killer assign not just one, but all three of them with guns? They were gonna have to use it at some point or else sending them would've been a waste of the killer's time. What would they use them for was what James kept thinking about. With each of them assigned five challenges and with each of them given a gun; there was a possibility that all three of them had a challenge that connected with the other two, hence why there was three guns. If only one of them would need it for a challenge, sending two more would be stupid.

But would he…would they, be able to use it when the time came? To simply use a weapon none of them used before and just strike something down…or someone. Would they have to kill someone at some point? James wouldn't put it past the killer to think of something like that. Kendall was crawling on glass right now as they spoke. That by itself was pretty messed up to think about. James aimlessly tossed the gun back and forth between his hands, not really thinking that it probably wasn't safe to do that.

It was only when Carlos touched him that James stopped what he was doing. Carlos was shaking his head at the confused boy. "That's not safe," he said, reaching out slowly to try and take it. "You can hurt yourself." His hands were close to the grip of the gun, but didn't get any closer; Carlos not being able to stand the sight of the weapon. Even with growing up with a dad as a cop, Carlos still didn't grow used to seeing a gun. For something so small, it can definitely cause some big problems. Carlos' hand hovered over the weapon before he pulled back, digging his hands in his pockets. "Just…stop tossing it, okay? You can hurt yourself."

James nodded, slowly placing the gun back in its previous spot behind his back, the uncomfortable feeling return as soon as his shirt started covering the small weapon. Carlos was right with what he said. James can't be playing around with a weapon like that. What if he accidently pulled the trigger and hurt, possibly killed, Carlos? He would never forgive himself for that, ever. Carlos would be seriously injured and just because he was an idiot and decided to mess around with no care for anyone around him. He really can be a selfish idiot sometimes.

"Let's try and find the other side of the tunnel." James suggested, remembering what Kendall said to do while he did his own thing. He almost let Kendall slip his mind while he thought about what they might have to do. If they couldn't get pass row one, they shouldn't be thinking about rows two-five. He hoped his friend was at least still breathing in there. Even if Kendall couldn't do the challenge, James would still go in there in a heartbeat to pull him out. He wouldn't hold it against him if he failed. It's not like they have to complete _**all**_ the challenges, right? The killer sure as hell never mentioned anything about having to do them all.

Carlos nodded. "And if we can't?" he sounded frightened. Like if they couldn't find it then that would spell out the end for them.

James looked back to the open door, resisting every urge he had as a brother to run in there, open it up, find Kendall, and drag his stubborn kicking and screaming little ass back out. "We come back here and see if he's back. And if he's not there or out here, I'll go in and try and find him."

Carlos thought the idea was good, but he didn't like it that much. If something happened and Kendall was to die or fail the challenge, what made it so that James would come back out with him? Carlos knew he wouldn't be able to talk James out of it, knowing that the boy could be as stubborn as Kendall when he had to, or wanted to, be. He already lost Logan, didn't know a damn thing about Kendall's status and James was talking about going in there too. He would lose all three of his brothers in one day if that happened.

He nodded at James, not sure what else to do. "Yeah…alright, that's a good idea." His voice didn't support the words it spoke, Carlos having to force them out through his tight chest. He ignored James' look on him, the boy probably picking up on Carlos' lack of energy to get the voice he wanted out.

"Is it?" James asked him, circling his body back around to start walking and looking for possible exits for Kendall. James noticed Carlos hesitate to agree to his idea. His tone of voice pretty much spoke for itself. James didn't like the idea either, but it was all he could think of to do. If Kendall couldn't make it, but was still alive; James wanted to get in there and save him before he died in there, and if he was already dead, James needed to know. James' idea was one that he wasn't particularly looking forward to do, but sometimes that's just how it was. You gotta do what you gotta do.

Carlos sighed at his friend's response, staring at the opened door one last time before he followed after James. Carlos wanted to tell him no, but figured the conversation was better off stopping now before they completely drowned one another in the other's depression. Carlos only paid enough attention to watch where James was going and what he was doing, not caring about much else. He was mentally preparing himself in case if Kendall did fail because if Kendall failed, then he and James were both as good as dead. And Carlos might as well die too, since he can't imagine his life without them or Logan. He wouldn't be able to find Logan on his own, just no way. He wouldn't find him, Katie or Mama Knight. He would be the last survivor of 2J. Of Big Time Rush. If that happened, he might as well shoot himself with the gun the killer gave him.

They didn't say anything to each other for a good long while. James only looking around while Carlos stayed lost within his own thoughts. The two usually couldn't stop talking when they were around each other, always proclaiming some crazy scheme they were gonna unleash to the world. Now they felt like two strangers who didn't know what to say. They occasionally gave each other looks. Looks that said that they _**wanted **_to say something, but couldn't get the words out. What the hell was happening to them? Not just James and Carlos, but them as a unit. The unit known as Big Time Rush? Why the heck were they acting like if their friendship that took years to perfect was now nothing? They said time and time again growing up that they would never pull apart from each other for anything. Too bad that almost happened twice now.

James going to Hawk that one time, and now half of their family being taken. That was twice that their friendship was put to the test. They overcame one, why couldn't they do this one? Their younger selves would be ashamed of their adult counterparts. Carlos knew that he would if his eight-year old self could see him now. Carlos didn't like that they were being awkward now, and he was sure James and Kendall didn't like it either, but they were going through something bad; something too horrible for any child to understand.

Well, not _**all **_children. That three-year old they met today, Katelyn, Carlos thought her name was, seemed to understand to an extent that a bad man took away her mother, grandmother, grandfather, and aunt. She seemed to know how horrible being involved with the killer was, and she was basically just a baby. Carlos soon realized that he shouldn't be complaining about how hard it was for him and his friends when there was a three-year old girl, a newborn infant, and her nineteen year old father who lost basically everyone they cared about to this guy. Even if they couldn't finish all challenges but ended up surviving all of the ones they did, at least James, Kendall, and Carlos would still have each other. This family had no one.

Carlos remembered the father's words today. His words of saying how if they wanted to help, they would need to kill the guy who killed his family. Well, they now knew what he went through, having family taken away by this serial killer. Carlos now felt like he was right to get mad at them. They tried to play off the rage and hurt he was feeling by simply bringing some food. No amount of food would make Carlos feel better after this. Carlos' eyes snapped when he remembered something that the little girl said.

"_Daddy tried to help them."_

"_He hurt his eye trying."_

'Did that father go through what we're going through now with the challenges?' Carlos asked himself. There was a light at the end of this dark tunnel. He found it! He had to tell James and Kendall. They had a way ahead in the game.

He stiffened when James yelled out that he found something. His brain kicking in gear, Carlos ran after him where he had taken off to, stopping on sight when he caught up.

Kendall made it out…and he was holding a small piece of paper. He looked up long enough to smirk at them.

"One down…fourteen more to go."

…

The sound of James closing the pipe made Kendall jump in his spot, his hand almost falling back into the line of fire of the sharp glass. He could hear his breathing become fast and uneasy as he unleashed all his fear since he was finally alone. The path that he was given was scary as hell. If one shard of glass made him wanna cry out in pain, imagine how he'll feel if he crawls on the broken glass? The end result did not look pretty.

Thinking about why he was doing this, why he was gonna do something that he'll never forget, Kendall thought of the faces of those he was trying to save. This was just the start. If he couldn't do the first challenge, how would he be able to handle all the rest?

Kendall held the book of matches tightly in his hand, closing his eyes one last time to think. 'I love you, Mom…Katie…Logan. I'm coming.' And thus Kendall placed one arm forward, the feeling of multiple shards stabbing him making him wanna throw up from how bad he felt. Never in his life has he experienced so much pain before. The feeling he had in his arm was like someone taking pliers and slowly trying to pull his arm off while pouring lemon juice on his wound. God he could feel the shards inside his arm, messing around with his veins and bones. He wanted to cry, wanted to bawl out right there, but he had something to do.

He had people to save.

Wheezing and panting in pain, Kendall pulled his body forward, the glass ripping through his shirt and impaling his stomach and cutting his chest. Goddamn with only two pulls forward, Kendall wanted to turn around and get out of here. He hadn't even gotten close to starting and already he wanted it to end, wanted it to stop.

Pushing his leg against the floor of the tunnel, Kendall scraped his body across more sharp glass, his legs joining his other body parts in being stabbed by the broken sharp glass. Kendall could feel his ankles getting stabbed and his knees getting cut. His body was already on now. The hard part was over. All he had to do was move forward. Easier said then done.

Kendall lit a match, wanting to see how bad things were looking for him. Things did not look good on his arms. Large gashes were already made, blood slipping out and dripping against the glass. Bending his head down, he could see the rips and tares in his shirt, more streams of blood sipping through and onto the ground below him. Kendall couldn't see his legs, but assumed that they were bad as well.

Shaking the match to flare it out, Kendall started the crawl once again, having to bite his lip to stop himself from screaming out in pain and agony. He would rather take getting hit by a car over this. At least then it was over quick, this was long and painful, some kind of forbidden torture that they used in certain parts of the world. Coughing to hold the tears he saw brimming in his eyes, Kendall desperately hoped and prayed it was all over soon. That the next time he crawled, he would be outside and have the first piece that they need.

Kendall blinked away the tears and saw that he was almost out. A few more crawls and he was home free. Dragging himself those last final and painful crawls, Kendall fell out the pipe, landing on top of where he was taken. He was taken outside and was lying behind a gate. Kendall, his eyes being cleaned of the tears after he blinked them out, realized he was next to the first piece of the picture. His hands numb, he had to put a lot of effort in to getting it, his fingers curling around the first of many papers in victory. It was only when he laughed did he realize something was in his back. Using the hand that wasn't holding the paper, he felt one or two of the shards of glass stuck in his mid-back and shoulder.

Even when he passed, he still took a beating.

"Hey! Carlos, come look!" Kendall heard James call out for their Latino friend, his hearing starting to get fuzzy due to losing a lot of blood. James was looking at him in shock, his hands going to work to try and get the lock off. Kendall didn't even notice that it was there.

He looked up to smirk, "One down…fourteen more to go." He waved the paper and then promptly passed out, his fingers uncurling the paper as he did. But he did have a smile on his face. No doubt it was one of victory.

…

"Kendall!" James grabbed the lock and pulled at it, trying to get it off.

Carlos was staring in complete shock and pride. Kendall did it? Kendall beat the first challenge! He kept his promise and didn't die. Although he was gonna if he didn't get help before he lost too much blood. Carlos saw James do something that made him duck for cover.

James pulled out the gun and shot the lock off, the sound of the gun going off ringing loudly for all to hear.

"Way to be subtle, James." Carlos sarcastically praised his friend, his hands covering his head, the position his dad taught him if a gun were to go off.

"Kendall is lying there dying!" James pointed hysterically. "Who cares about being _**subtle**_?" James put the weapon back, his arms pulling the door open before going to work to putting Kendall on his back. "Get the paper!"

Carlos rushed to get the paper after scampering to stand up; surprised James can run faster than him while carrying Kendall on his back. They ran all the way to the BTR Mobile, where James took out the keys and started, driving what Carlos knew to be _**way **_above the speed limit. But Kendall was there unconscious and dying.

James had the right idea this time.

End of Chapter 4 of Heavy Blood

Damn, Kendall is a badass.

Logan is a brave man. His courage will be put to the test all throughout the story.

James is ready to do whatever, somewhat.

Carlos is thinking rationally.

Did you all enjoy? Place your bets on what might happen next and who you think the killer is?

Next chapter is all Kendall, James, and Carlos and the next is all Logan. Just a quick heads up.

Next Time: Late Night Visit


	5. Late Night Visit

Disclaimer: Don't own Big Time Rush

AN: **Glad a lot of you are enjoying this story. It's reached 1,000 hits and it only has four chapters. Thanks to all of you that review, alert and favorite. You guys make this all worth while. **

**Just a heads up that there's no Logan in this chapter but he has an entire chapter to himself next time, so I hope you enjoy anyway.**

**Thank you and read on **

Chapter 5- Late Night Visit

"One…We're only one challenge in and already, Kendall takes an ass-kicking."

James was talking to Carlos, both of them by the vending machine in the hospital waiting room. Apparently, James' driving like that of someone in a drag race gone wrong had gotten them to the hospital in record time, giving themselves a bigger window of opportunity to save Kendall's life. Through all the bumps and squealing tires on the ride over, the blonde hadn't woken up at all, only lying in the back of the BTR mobile with cuts across his arms, legs and chest with two shards impaled in his lower and upper back. Both boys thought he was already dead until James checked for a pulse while Carlos ran in to get some help. The pulse was slow and almost missable, signaling Kendall's slowing heartbeat and the rising of James'.

Never in his life had he seen Kendall so defeated and dead before. He looked so weak. Cuts on his arms, stab wounds on his chest, scraps on his legs, and two bloody pieces of glass inside his back. Kendall Knight wasn't meant to look weak. He was supposed to help the weakened. It was all so foreign and different that James didn't know what to do at that moment. He had debated taking out the glass, worried that it was gonna do a lot more damage if it was just left unaccounted for, but decided against it; not willing to take the risk of hurting Kendall more and possibly killing him by letting out the last of the blood that was keeping him alive.

So, like a clueless idiot, which he felt like at the moment, James had to wait for Carlos to fetch the EMT workers from inside the hospital and watch as they took his friend out of the back of the car and put him on a gurney, his face remaining pale and frozen the entire time.

The back of the car, which Logan worked really hard to make sure stayed clean mostly due to his and Carlos' eating habits, was now stained in Kendall's blood. From where his chest was, as the blonde was lying on his front side, a small stain of blood flowed from one cushion over to the other, seemingly wanting to fill up the space of the back of the car. From where his arms dangled over, the blood also took up small spaces on the floor, which he could only see because of the bright lights of the hospital behind him. It was liked a silhouette of Kendall was painted in the back of the car in his own blood.

Carlos had to pull him away from the car, having gone around and taken out the keys and turning off the engine while James stayed frozen to his spot on the street by their car. James allowed him to lead him away from the powered down vehicle but didn't make a move to turn the other way, only focusing on the spot where their friend/brother laid in agony and awaiting death.

Of course the eyes of almost everyone that was in the room jumped to them once they walked in. How often do you see half of a famous boy-band in the waiting room in a hospital? Not too often if you wanted to be accurate in James' opinion. They ignored them, only caring about three things right now.

Kendall living or dying, whether or not he would even be able to go on with the challenges, and when they would go for James'.

That was something that kept throwing itself into James' current thoughts every time he got a chance to think straight within these last few minutes and whenever it was brought into thought, all he could think about was the bloody form of Kendall and the echoed message that that could very well be him next. Now more then ever, James was scared to go and do his trial. He was counting on Kendall to come out like Superman from his and give him a confidence boost that it wasn't so bad. But Kendall crawled out like a solider that escaped enemy camp with only a fork for a weapon, which sent really bad shivers down James' spine.

If Kendall Knight, who James admired as the strongest person he knew, barely came out of his challenge alive and _**still **_might die because of it…what hope did he have to complete his? He might as well just kill himself right now with the gun he had tucked behind his pants and save himself the time and trouble of failing miserably and dying a slow and painful death. At least shooting himself would be fast and easy.

Carlos nodded at his words, selecting a bag of chips to eat, not really caring what kind they were. His stomach hurt so much that he needed something to snack on really quick. He wasn't in the mood to throw up from the anxiety and fear he was feeling. He opened the bag, the sound of paper ripping and fingers grabbing chips being the only sound that came from Carlos since they got here, having been to focused on getting Kendall help and then playing the waiting game to really do anything else.

"I mean…look at him," James laughed uneasily as he grabbed the side of his head with his hand. "He's a tough son of a bitch, that guy. Not letting anything get to him for any reason. Always ready to jump into others' problems and solve them, not caring if he got hurt. He's as tough as nails and what the hell happens?" James dropped his semi-laughing face and glared at his reflection in the glass of the vending machine. "He gets hospitalized because of _**cuts**_!" James leaked the word out with venom that would've frightened Carlos if he wasn't already. "One-fifteenth of the way finished, one day gone, and we only have _**this**_." He waved the squared piece of paper by his face, resisting every urge that he had to rip it up in anger. All that was on it was a corner of a building. That's it! Again, he resisted the urge to rip it. They needed this paper, not James in a temper tantrum.

Carlos will admit silently that he was pissed too that after what Kendall went through, the injuries he received, all he got was a small piece of paper with the corner of a building imprinted on it. It couldn't be part of an address or something? Did it really have to be this? Not really, but so far from what they experienced in the past few hours or so, The Painter Killer made things as hard as can be for whoever, even on his apparent-boy-crush Kendall. Carlos still found it weird that Kendall's message was encouraging and confidence boosting while his and James' were mocking and instigating.

"At this rate we might as well just call it quits," James muttered, sliding his back against the wall, not feeling like sliding down to the floor due to his lack of energy; although he still might fall down anyway because of that. "Save ourselves a lot of pain and time and just prepare to find our family's dead bodies in a few weeks from now."

At the reminder of what might come in a few weeks, Carlos stopped his chewing, the small pieces of chewed up chips falling out from the opening of his mouth. James' tone of wanting to give up already had Carlos wanting to run and break down somewhere where no-one would be able to find him. How could James say that? How can he be so willing to just call it quits already and just abandon the search when it hadn't even started yet? He had to speak now. He had to try and talk James out of it. He and Kendall needed James' help. Without him, they wouldn't be able to finish the challenges.

"P-Please…don't say that, Jamie. We can still f-find them." Carlos had to try really hard to stop himself from crying when he started talking, feeling the sadness at seeing Kendall all hurt coming back up tenfold when he finally talked. It was always so much easier to not cry if you didn't talk.

James slid further to the ground; his arms dangling along his sides like Kendall's were in the car, being two inches from the floor. "How? Do one challenge each, waste hours here to get checked out, and go back and do more? Not to mention that we'll need time to rest, eat, and all other human necessities. At this rate, Car…we won't make it to Row 3 before time is up."

Carlos opened his mouth to respond but stopped when James finally touched ground; laughing like if he just heard a funny joke.

"And what do we say to the people here every time we come? What do we tell Jo each time we give her that box to watch? What do we do when one of us collapses and can't go on anymore, because it will happen, Carlos. If this is challenge _**one **_in the _**first **_row of challenges, how the hell are we gonna do fourteen more?" he looked up to him from his reflection, still laughing. "Please tell me, man. I would love to hear what you come up with."

Carlos realized that James brought up some good points. It was only a matter of time until they started getting questioned on what they were doing that required extensive visits to the ER. They could only tell Jo so many times to look after the box until she asked what was inside and took a look, if she hadn't already. She probably didn't, as James and Carlos' phones hadn't ringed once since they left The Palm Woods.

James raised a finger, "I just remembered. Tomorrow, most likely, Logan, Katie, and Mrs. Knight's disappearances are sure to be noticed. How do we explain that?"

"We won't have to," Carlos said. "Everyone will know that it's just another kidnapping of the killer. No one will ask us anything."

"Kendall's cuts won't bring up questions?" James asked rhetorically, obviously not wanting Carlos to answer that question. James kicked his feet forward, meeting air. "Goddamn I hate this!"

"You're stressing yourself out," Carlos told him, bending down on one knee and setting the bag of chips down. He looked to the aggravated James, "Calm down a little."

"How are _**you**_ calm?" James shot back right after, Carlos stiffening at the tone of his voice. "Are you all of a sudden a Zen expert? What are you, Carlos-Zen-Garcia now?"

Carlos frowned at James, not finding his tone to be that thrilling to listen to. James was turning into an asshole now; all because Kendall had completed a challenge that would lead to their family. James should be up and cheering somewhat excitedly that they were closer then they were before Kendall had crawled in the tunnel. Yes, it was screwed up that Kendall got hurt, but in Carlos' opinion, his friend got off easy.

At least he didn't lose an eye like that father did.

"Well…are you?"

James asked the silent Latino in front of him the question again, getting somewhat annoyed by his lack of answer. James didn't like it when Carlos was quiet; it just didn't feel right to him. Carlos was always laughing and blabbing on like a man possessed. To see him frowning all quiet and serious got James a little scared. He didn't mean to sound like an ass, he never did, but he was stupid. He didn't know any better. He did almost hurt himself and Carlos before when he stupidly tossed the gun around back and forth, and he could've hit Kendall when he shot the lock off. James was prone to do stupid shit without thinking, but he didn't mean to when he did. He would apologize when he found out if Kendall was okay or not. He didn't want to apologize first and then go all crazy right afterward if he got the answer he didn't like.

Carlos sighed, looking down towards the floor; catching the sight of his chewed up chips by his foot that was bent forward. He almost didn't say it, but he thought James would calm down if he did. Carlos did possibly find a small way out of this.

"I think I have an answer to our problem."

James' sitting posture froze, his eyes looking over his friend's bent body curiously. He tilted his head in confusion, "Which one? The hospital one, the Jo one, or the cuts one?"

Carlos shook his head as James listed off the guesses. "No… About how to do the challenges." He finally looked up from the sight of his tossed away food to his friend's curious eyes, hungry for what information Carlos had in mind. "You know that dad we met today?"

"The one with the adorable daughter and infant brother?" James checked his memory bank of the day, skipping over all the horrible parts he didn't want to think about, and remembered when they made a detour with the basket of food. "Yeah, so what?"

"Remember what his daughter said?"

James shook his head slowly at his friend, having no clue as to where Carlos was going with this.

"She said, and I quote, 'Daddy tried to help them. He hurt his eye trying.'" Carlos waited for James to nod at him, getting a small image of what Carlos was saying. "Doesn't that sound kinda like our predicament?"

"I'm pretty sure I have both eyes, you have both, and no glass touched Kendall's face." James went right back to being confused again, although the gears in his head were still trying to turn and understand what his friend was trying to say.

Carlos sighed and shook his head. "No, I mean about how he might've gone through challenges too."

"Are you sure you didn't hit your head or something while I wasn't looking? Just because a little girl said that her dad hurt his eye trying to find his family that happened to be kidnapped by the same guy that took ours, doesn't mean a thing in the slightest." Carlos only gave him a narrow glance and waited for common sense to catch up with James' denial. James' eyes opened in realization. "Actually…maybe it does mean something." James suddenly paled, "Does that mean one of us loses an eye at some point!?"

Carlos shook his palm at James to try and get the paranoid boy to calm down as he was drawing back the attention that was going away from when they entered the waiting room. Carlos placed a finger to his lips, "Shush, do you want people to know everything we're talking about?"

James shook his head, looking apologetic at, yet again, acting stupid. He knew it wasn't a good idea to be blasting their personal business out when there were other people around that'll probably interfere when they shouldn't. James needed to learn to keep his mouth shut at certain times or else it was gonna get him and his family in a lot of problems they didn't need.

"I'm sorry for snapping, James, but we need to keep this between us. No one outside of you, me, and Kendall can know about the challenges. When we're somewhere safe, you can yell all you want about them, but to answer your question, no; I don't think we will lose an eye. That dad probably had bad luck or something. How can you lose an eye anyway?" he asked his friend, who seemed to be grateful at his words. It was usually the other way around; with James usually the one to try and console Carlos when something bad happened, not the other way around. James was feeling pride at Carlos for thinking smart. He would've never guessed that there was a possibility that the dad they met would've been in the same boat as them right now with the challenges. Maybe Carlos should be the smart one for now.

"Getting stabbed, shot, I don't know." James shrugged. He blinked his eyes to get rid of some dust, "So what does that do to help us? We go and ask him to tell us what the challenges are?"

Carlos smiled hopefully. That was what he was thinking after all. Even if the guy didn't want pity or help, maybe he'll help them so they wouldn't have to be in pain like he was. That seemed logical to think of, no?

James lowered his posture, his back digging against the wall he was leaning against. "Are you sure he'll even talk to us? He didn't seem like he was ready to talk about anything to anyone. Plus, with that bandage covering half his face…" James shuddered slightly. "He's scary, man."

"It's not nice to make fun of people because of facial problems, James." Carlos scolded lightly, not having the energy right now to really give him a speech on his choice of words about someone they hardly knew.

"Sorry," James apologized.

Carlos brushed off his apologies, "Don't be hard on yourself, James. It's not good for your health."

James smirked, "You sound like L- you sound smart right now." James resisted his urge to say Logan's name, scared that things would get really awkward between him and Carlos again when they were finally talking with no problems stopping them. It was just them and joking about James' bad habits. James was sure though, that Carlos knew what he was about to say as his smile dropped for a second before it got pulled back up to where it was.

"I have my moments," he responded with a puff of the chest. "I just wanted to run it by you if… if I can…" he hesitated. "Go and ask him for help…" James made a move to stand, ready to go with Carlos, but the boy held up a hand. He looked sorry for what he was about to say. "Alone…"

James' eyes widened at the request, the shock making him stand up anyway, his frame hovering over Carlos. "Alone!? Do you not know how dangerous that is right now?" Carlos nodded after a second. "What if the killer comes and takes you too? Then what'll me and Kendall do? Do you expect me to let you go off by yourself when there's a psycho out there waiting to get us and kill our family?"

Carlos jumped at the words his friend said, not finding them to give him a boost of confidence, but he needed to do this. Kendall was out cold still and James was too moody to do anything but sit and wait. Carlos can also see that James was afraid to be alone right now. Carlos was probably the only thing that was keeping him from going crazy and attacking everyone in his path in rage. Carlos didn't like that he was leaving him alone, but he needed to do what he needed to do. He didn't say that he had to like it.

"I have to ask him, James. I have to at least try. This could save our lives if I'm right."

James didn't like how Carlos was playing the logic card on him, feeling tense and unknowing what to do when Carlos got smart. He was used to Logan getting all snippy and using common sense on him, but not Carlos. Carlos was always there by his side ready to have fun and do stupid stuff with him when they felt up for it. Seeing his friend so changed in only a few hours wasn't something that James could ever be prepared for, no matter what was going on around them.

He was right though. If he was right, and this father did go through the challenges like they started to do, then maybe they can get a lead and prepare for it before hand. Then they wouldn't have to go blindly in the upcoming chaos fourteen more times. Once was bad enough, Kendall ending up in the hospital; they couldn't deal with that fourteen more times. They didn't have the time or emotions for it.

James, reluctantly…very reluctantly, nodded at Carlos, who smiled when he did. Without thinking, he pulled out the gun from behind his pants, which miraculously didn't go off when he sat down, and handed it over to Carlos, lifting his shirt and tucking it in his front, pulling his shirt down afterwards. Carlos was shocked and disturbed to say the least.

"James-"

"Take that or I'm gonna follow you when you leave." He leaned against the wall again and folded his arms across his chest, waiting for Carlos to pick an answer, ready for whichever one he picked. "Which is it? Alone and with protection? Or with me following you?"

Carlos wanted to go alone, but he didn't want to have the gun with him. That would probably make things worse for him if he felt the barrel of a weapon bounce against his pants. Plus, in the long term; if he survived his challenges, he didn't want to tell his future wife that he couldn't have kids because of accidently shooting himself in the nuts when he was walking. That would be an awkward conversation to have.

Focusing back on James, he could tell he was serious. It was either go right now like the way you are, or give back the gun and I'll be right behind you. Carlos didn't like those choices, but knew that it was all he could choose from. Who knew that life can get so hard within only a few hours? Sometimes it took only a second. Carlos was just thrilled that things couldn't possibly get worse than what they are.

Carlos sighed before he adjusted his shirt so he knew that he wouldn't get caught with the gun in his pants. Turning back to James, he softened his gaze. "If something comes up… if he's up and well or… d-dead… you'll call, right?"

James nodded instantly, "Of course. No doubt. Call me when you convince this guy to help us." He grinned, "Actually…bring him here so I can see him and thank him. Oh! If he says no, call me anyway so I can have a few words with him."

"I thought you were scared of him?" Carlos chuckled, remembering James not even ten minutes ago saying how he was scared of the guy Carlos was going to talk to.

James smiled a sad smile. "I go against my fears for the people I care about. I am doing the challenges after all, 'member?" James almost slid back to the floor in fear at the reminder of the challenges, but held himself together.

Carlos nodded, "Yeah… you are." He turned back around and walked out the door, leaving James alone in the hospital, his sad smile dropping almost instantly. Now that he was alone, he had no idea what to do now. What did he do now? Just wait for Carlos to come back or for someone to come out and tell him that Kendall was either dead or alive? James really hated the waiting game. He really did. It was just something that he couldn't win.

Almost leaning back in his spot against the wall, James heard the approaching footsteps of a doctor. Looking around, he saw that he was coming over to him. Nervous being an understatement at how he was feeling, James wished he still had the weapon; if only for the sense of safety and security that it brought him. James should've been alarmed that he was growing somewhat attached to the weapon, but Kendall's condition worried him more right now.

James stood tall as the doctor cleared his throat. "You're friends with Kendall Knight, right?" James nodded right away. The doctor, whose name James saw his Sean by the nametag he was wearing, noticed that someone was missing. "Wasn't there someone else here with you?" he asked, referring to Carlos.

"Bathroom," James lied almost instantly.

"You wanna wait for him?"

"No!" James responded a little too loudly, getting confused looks from Sean. He coughed, "Sorry. No, you can tell me and I'll tell him when he comes back." He assured. James' heart was pounding against his rib cage, threatening to burst with each bump that he felt. He was so scared right now that he might have a heart attack.

Sean nodded, looking over the sheets that he had with him. "Yes, well, Kendall Knight will be alright," James almost shouted for joy, keeping calm so the doctor can finish. "However I must ask," James' happy exterior died down. "How did he get injured? Those kinds of cuts come from glass. At first we thought it was because he cut himself, but after finding the glass in his back; we guessed that he must've fell in some. Is this true?"

James normally wouldn't have a problem being put on the spot, but he didn't know what to say here. Lying wouldn't be good, but he didn't know what else to do. They wouldn't believe him if he said the truth, and if they did; then he, Kendall, and Carlos will be stuck in the police interrogation room wasting time that they need for the challenges. How does he outsmart a doctor, who was making him think of Logan, the boy's dream wanting to be a doctor, and how does he do it without getting caught?

James sighed, "I won't lie to you, Doc. We, we being me, Kendall, and my friend in the john, were walking when we passed by some broken glass in the street. Kendall, being the good boy that he is, went to go pick it up. My other friend decided to be funny and tried to scare him by yelling in his ear. Needless to say, it worked and Kendall ended up falling into the glass and accidently rolled over when we told him not to move."

Sean was looking at him funny, a look that James didn't like. "Why didn't you call 9-1-1?"

"I panicked. Wouldn't you panic in that situation too?"

"Then why did you come in the car?"

James almost forgot that they came here by car. "We were going to Fun Burger to eat. The car was parked by the glass where he hurt himself." James hoped that this doctor bought it, getting real tired of people playing the logic card on him for one night. Kendall, Carlos, and now Dr. Sean was pulling it out from their sleeves. Why couldn't James get a different card to play against? The logic one was getting tiring real fast.

Sean still looked a little skeptical but knew that he would have to take James' word for it. "Alright then…he should be awake in a few. He's lost a lot of blood."

'I know. The car is stained with it.' James shuddered at the mention of blood, going right back to the spot where he stood with his back to the hospital and his front into the back seat of the car, the silhouette of Kendall's blood coming back from the back of his mind, having pushed it back enough to talk to Carlos without thinking of it. He didn't have a choice now.

"If you can call his guardian to sign some stuff for us, that'll be appreciated."

James' eyes widened as soon as Sean's sentence came out of his mouth. Why did life feel the need to screw him over right now? Why couldn't the conversation just end already and James can see Kendall? He actually wanted to see him this time, knowing that he would survive his injuries. Why did things have to always come back and screw him over when he wasn't ready?

Sean raised an eyebrow, "Sir?"

James was freaking out right now. Who did he call? Where did he get the phone number for the Painter Killer? So many freaking questions were buzzing around in his head and he couldn't think of an answer to any of them. He nodded at Sean, still panicking inside of his head on what he was gonna do and who to call. When he was alone, he whipped out his phone and scrolled through the list of contacts. He passed by Gustavo, actually contemplating on calling the large man, feeling like he can use his help right now. Gustavo would find out tomorrow about Logan being missing, as well as Katie and Mrs. Knight. The only evidence James had that he didn't already know was that he wasn't spamming his voicemail with angry messages. Gustavo would help them, even if he would never admit to caring about them. He made it obvious enough.

But did James want to drag him into this mess? Into this hell that he, Kendall, and Carlos were stuck in for two weeks? He already felt bad that Carlos was going to ask a single father to remember everything that he went through to help them. He couldn't deal with the guilt he would have if Gustavo were to get hurt, Kelly too. He wouldn't be able to deal with getting that loving woman involved with their problems. He passed them on the list.

He laughed at the person under her, finding life to really be funny in many ways. Now James was asking if he wanted to get her involved with this too. Just how many people was he gonna contemplate dragging into this mess? He really felt like an ass right now, but knew that he was out of options right now. He pressed call and held the phone to his ear, the ringing making him more nervous. When he heard it stop and someone on the other line, he sighed.

"Hey…"

…

Carlos wanted to turn back.

The scene in front of him got to him and he didn't want to ruin it. He would feel like a horrible person afterwards. Sitting on the couch at eleven at night was the father, his eye bandage covering his right eye, holding and rocking his crying daughter in his arms. Carlos faintly remembered him saying how she cried a lot nowadays since most of her family was gone; killed by a monster that was now after him and his family.

Compared to the scary guy he talked with before, this one was all gentle and soothing. He held his daughter close to his chest while using his foot to rock the seat where his infant brother mostly laid. Carlos felt weird watching through the window, but was now glad he did. He couldn't interrupt this moment until he was sure that it was okay to go ahead.

The father took the teddy bear by his left and placed it in his daughter's arms, where she went and wrapped her tiny fingers around the bear; hugging it really close to her chest in a power hug. Carlos knew a power hug when he saw one. She was crying a lot more than a three-year old should, mumbling some things Carlos couldn't decipher or hear. He already felt like an ass for intruding, he didn't want to know what they were talking about. It was family business for them.

She lowered into her dad's lap, her face buried and her body shaking. Carlos wanted to cry; not seeing something as sad as this before in his life. A nineteen year old single father with a three year old daughter and an infant brother being the only survivors of their family after The Painter Killer came after them for his games, would make anyone cry; even Kendall. If he saw this, he would at least regret calling the guy a miserable jerk.

Carlos stood watching for a long time, roughly twenty minutes of just watching the guy rubbing his daughter's head and occasionally kissing it, trying to get her to stop crying. So much sorrow and misery for one family had Carlos lowering his head in sadness. The girl was three-years old. These were gonna be her first memories that she really remembered, and they were only gonna be filled with heartbreaking experiences. This guy looked ready to cry too, rubbing at his eye bandage and biting his lip to stop something. After another ten minutes, the baby girl finally stopped shaking and her back rose up and down lightly, showing she fell asleep. There was his cue.

Moving away from the window, Carlos went and knocked on the door, hearing the man growl. Scared to look, Carlos peeked over to see him slipping through quietly and easily away from his daughter, reaching and grabbing something on his right side that Carlos just noticed.

A gun!

Making sure his was ready, he was grateful when it was. Standing in front of the door waiting, the guy opened it, glaring when he saw it was him. He looked around and scoffed. "No food this time? Or did you bring us drinks instead?" no signs of the gun were visible. He must've either moved it or had it hiding like he did with his. "Where's Mr. Rude, Mr. Pretty and Mr. Nosy?" he noticed the lack of three boys. "It's just you?"

Carlos nodded, "Yes. I came to ask you something."

He didn't look convinced, "I'm touched." He had one hand on the doorknob on his end, ready to swing if he grew tired of Carlos' presence. He sounded sarcastic of course, not too thrilled at seeing him at eleven at night. "What? I got my daughter and brother sleeping in the living room here and I kinda feel like sleeping tonight, too."

Carlos felt worse about this, but sucked up a breath. "Did you go through challenges from the killer?"

The man's left eye blinked once, twice, three times before Carlos knew something was wrong. This guy was too quiet after Carlos asked the question. He glared before growling and pulling the gun from the back of his pants, Carlos should've had seen it coming.

"I didn't tell anyone! How the hell do you know that?"

Carlos didn't think to pull out his gun, not willing to after the affectionate display he just saw before. This man had good and nice in him; Carlos just needed to get him to show it. "Let me explain."

"Ten seconds before I shoot! I already killed one person, two doesn't concern me."

Carlos held in his gasp at the information, knowing he needed to talk or else he was dead. This guy was serious. "My adoptive mom, sister, and brother were kidnapped by him! Kendall's in the hospital after completing one. James is with him. I just came to ask for help!"

He widened his eye slightly before he lowered his gun, hiding it back where he got it from. "Which challenge?" he finally asked after two minutes of silence.

"Crawling on glass."

The man let out a humorless chuckle. "The glass." He banged his fist on the door, disregarding his sleeping family. "The glass. The glass. The goddamn mother-fucking glass!" he punched the door full force, a piece of wood chipping loose from the hit. "Yeah, me and that glass go _**way**_ back." He attempted dark humor. He touched his bandage. "Yeah, I know that pain."

"But Kendall didn't hurt his eye. How did you?"

"Fell out the tunnel the wrong way. Went face first when I should've gone on my sides." He angered when he started remembering what happened, making Carlos feel more guilt. "Anyway, why do you need my help?"

"We don't want to fail."

"I did. Trust me, it doesn't suck badly… it's fucking horrible." He spat. He glared again. "I didn't have help, why should I help you?"

Carlos was afraid of this, sighing when he was right. This guy was skeptical. "Because no one else should die because of him and he deserves to be caught?" Carlos' reason came out more like a question, not sure where this guy was gonna go depending on what he said.

The man laughed, "So since you're famous, you feel like I should help you save your family and then tell me that no one deserves to die because of him. Well guess what, buddy? It happened to me and my family. I promised my daughter I would find our family and I failed. I failed and now she cries every night."

Carlos knew that he shouldn't say he saw.

He noticed the small lump in Carlos' pants and chuckled. "Are you excited to see me?" he stopped laughing. "Or is that a gun that he sent you?"

"Are you gonna shoot my daddy?" Carlos and the man noticed the little girl standing behind her father while holding her teddy bear, Carlos not knowing how he didn't see or hear her coming. She wore a pink shirt that read 'Daddy's Little Princess' with purple shorts. "Please don't!" she begged. "Don't hurt my daddy!" she sounded so scared and frightened, like if Carlos was here to kill her dad.

"No, Katelyn," Carlos remembered her name. "I'm not here to shoot your daddy."

The man seemed to ignore Carlos knowing his kid's name and scooped her up, completely blocking out Carlos, going into 'Loving Daddy Mode.' "Why are you up?"

She sniffed, "I didn't feel you hold me. You said we sleep together now until I don't cry anymore. I thought you left Daddy. I thought you left me and Nate alone."

'So that's the baby's name.' Carlos noted.

Her father almost gasped at that, his chest rising faster than it should have. He shook his head fiercely. "No, baby, no. Daddy'll never leave you or Nate, ever. I'm not going anywhere."

"Mommy said that and now she's gone." She cried when she remembered her mother, burying her head into her father's shoulder.

"Mommy didn't have a choice. Daddy does, and Daddy chooses to never leave you or Nate."

Katelyn sniffed. "Promise?"

Carlos swore that the guy smiled. "I promise with all my heart, princess. Daddy just needs to finish talking to this guy here and then he'll come and be with you, okay?" she nodded, which made Carlos shake his head, both father and daughter looking at him. "What now?"

"I'm so sorry I came here and even thought about asking you to come back into this horrible hell of the killer. You have a family here. I can't ask you to come and help us."

Katelyn looked to her dad, "Daddy, are you gonna help them?"

Her dad was shaking his head slightly, not sure on what he wanted to do. On one hand, it sucked that they were going through what he did and it also sucked that they did the glass challenge. But on the other hand, he didn't care. He already lost everything to this guy. He didn't want to risk anymore to him. He sighed, "Let me ask you something first."

Carlos looked surprised, but nodded. The man nodded back. "But first let me say this. All I care about now is my daughter and brother. They're the only family I have left because of this guy taking away everyone else." He gave him a warning look. "I'll leave or do whatever I have to do to keep them alive if I feel need be, do you understand?" Carlos was still surprised, but nodded. "Now for the question… do you have someone who can keep an eye on them?"

Carlos nodded once again. "I can arrange something." Jo and Camille wouldn't mind watching kids, right? At least he hoped they didn't. They were all he could think of right now. "So… you're helping now? What changed your mind?"

He sighed. "It sucks losing family to this guy, it really does. You feel horrible afterwards that you didn't do more to save them." He saw Carlos looked down. "But," he looked back up. "You came and asked for help when this guy made it clear not to go to anyone for help. That shows your willing to go far to help them. I can respect that."

Carlos smiled and nodded. "You can come over to The Palm Woods at noon tomorrow. I'll have a sitter by then." He nodded, turning back. "Wait." He turned again. "What's your name?"

He sighed, "That's right, I didn't say." He debated on doing it before sighing again. "Frankie Wilson. This is my daughter Katelyn Wilson and the baby in the seat in the room there is Nathan Wilson."

Carlos nodded and smiled. "I'm Carlos Garcia, nice to meet you guys. Welcome to the family."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Frankie kicked the door closed behind him, leaving Carlos by himself. He smiled. Things were looking great as of now. He found themselves an ally and they could prepare better for the challenges ahead.

Too bad it only got harder and sadder from here.

End of Chapter 5 of Heavy Blood

Yeah, no Logan this time. But he has his own chapter next time.

I brought back the single father, Frankie. The guys need someone with experience to help them with this hell. It's the only way to get through this with as little casualty as possible.

At least Kendall survived, right?

What scene was your favorite? The Jarlos scene, James lying to the doctor, or Carlos coming after Frankie and his family?

Next Time: First Day in Prison


	6. First Day in Prison

Disclaimer: Don't own Big Time Rush

AN: **This chapter is shorter than usual so I apologize, but I don't wanna start Logan's challenges yet. I wanna wait a little bit until James and Carlos do theirs. What he does here is a test to see if he can do the challenges. Unlike Kendall, James and Carlos, he'll actually have a choice and not have to worry too much about something happening to him… but to Katie and Mama Knight. So the next time we see Logan, he'll be starting his own descent into hell. This is just basically foreshadowing and a glimpse into what the killer does.**

**Also, this is Logan's perspective and the next day in his eyes. The next time we see Kendall and the rest, it'll still be the first day.**

**Enjoy**

Chapter 6- First Day in Prison

Logan stirred as the usual morning dizziness kicked in. His eyes were fighting the urge to open, wanting to stay shut. He rolled over onto his side, the bruise that was given to him by one of the Painter Killer's goons starting to sting from the sudden pressure on his arm. He let out a low wince as he looked outside to the dim sunlight that was shining in through the small space in the window. He thought about breaking out through the window, but logic caught up to him and he realized that even if he got the bars off the window, the fall would either break his legs or kill him. He wouldn't leave anyway. He needed to get Katie and Mama Knight before he went anywhere.

Again, his brain went into thinking mode. He was trying to formulate an idea on how he can find them. He already tried asking and got no real answer. Only that they were alive and that if he wanted them to stay that way, which he obviously did, he would need to be ready to do anything. He was scared of what was in store for him. The mind of the killer was probably a dark and depressing place that came up some of the most horrible and rigid thoughts ever conjured up by a human being.

Sneaking out the door was probably a bad idea. Like he realized last night, he didn't know what the terrain of this place was. The building itself would be a giant maze for him and while he was smart, he wasn't the best with the sense of direction. Carlos often made fun of him for getting lost all the time when he was sent to go somewhere and couldn't find his way back. If he wanted to sneak out and find a way out, he would need to keep sneaking around and mark where he was so he wasn't staying in the same spot over and over again. If he did that, he might get caught and then not only will he get himself killed, he might get Katie and Mrs. Knight killed too. He wouldn't be able to stand the idea that he got them killed just because he acted like an idiot.

Sitting up now from his laying position, he stared at the door that led to the exit from his room with a frown on his face. What did he do now? Just wait for them to come and get him and take him into his challenges? Well that was kinda what being kept prisoner was. Waiting for your captor to come and check up on you when it was convenient for them. That left Logan to his thoughts.

He thought about how his friends must be acting right now. He could imagine the looks of horror on James and Carlos' faces and the angered look on Kendall's. They would be in a rage right now, worried about him, Katie and Mrs. Knight. Kendall would be running around the city trying to find them with James and Carlos tailing behind them, either trying to keep him in check or with him each and every step of the way. If Logan knew his friends as well as he did, all three of them would be pushing people down and riding through the streets in a frenzy trying to look for them. It would either look funny or terrifying, depending on who watched them commit their acts.

He could also imagine the look of sorrow and misery on Camille's face when she found out he was gone. It tore at his chest when he imagined it in his head; seeing his girlfriend that he loved so much torn up to pieces at the revelation that he was kidnapped by The Painter Killer and would probably meet his death in a few weeks. He would do anything to stop it. He would do anything within his power to do so. That meant finding his way out and escaping from here. But he had to do it with precision and timing. One slip up and the only way he'll return to Camille will be in a body bag. He would return to her alive to spare her the pain of seeing him dead, even if he had to get hurt in the process.

Lowering his head so it hung in his hands, he was left with the sound of his breathing and nothing else. This was what solitary confinement was described as. Dark, lonely and left with nothing but your thoughts. He sighed, wanting someone to come and get him out of here just to relieve the boredom of being left alone in prison. That's all this was. It didn't matter what picture they painted for him and it didn't matter how hard they went into detail. This was prison; nothing more and nothing less.

After a minute of just sitting by himself not doing anything, he took a glance to the second door in the room. This one led to the bathroom. Logan thought about using it, wanting to at least splash his face with some water to wake himself up. But then he would be accepting the charity that they gave him, as messed up as that sounded. If things got really bad for him or if he got desperate enough, he would cave and use the room. Hygiene would be the death of him.

The sound of a key turning startled him back into reality. Finally, someone came and was letting him out. The only question was who it was. Was it the same guy as last time or was it the killer?

The doorknob jingled and turned, the face of the guy from last night peeking through. Logan gave the man a glare, not exactly thrilled to see him. He would've much rather it be the killer for the fact that Logan had a lot of words to give him. Words that would make those that knew him look at him in disbelief. Also… he wanted to analyze the man in hopes that he could figure out clues as to who he is and let it slip out. There was a chance he would die soon and he wasn't gonna die for nothing. He would live and escape with Katie and Mama Knight, he would die but they would escape, or they would escape with the information he would get. Either way, he was going down with accomplishment.

The man smirked at him, his teeth looking uncomfortably clamped down. "Hello Logan. Nice to see you again."

Logan didn't answer back, only keeping his glare on the man.

"Not to keen on seeing me?' he sounded hurt, but of course it was fake. "I thought we were friends?" Logan didn't give the man any inclination that he heard or cared about what he said. He frowned at the prisoner, "Come on, man, at least talk to me."

Logan folded his arms, the bruise sending a wave of pain throughout his arm. He held in the pain he was feeling and kept glaring at the man. He wouldn't give him the satisfaction of giving him an answer. Unless he was gonna tell him what he wanted to know, he wouldn't answer back.

The man blinked at him, nodding slowly before he looked behind him. Logan could tell that he wasn't staring at anything in particular as his posture was lazy. If Logan had enough muscle, he would knock the man down and use him as leverage to get what he wanted. Now Logan was starting to get frightened by his thoughts. He wouldn't be thinking like this had it been another circumstance. But he knew this wasn't the time to get soft. He needed to be thinking about the best he can do to ensure survival.

Without warning, he threw something at the unsuspecting boy; Logan being pushed into the ground from the force behind the thrown object. His eye stung from what ever it was that hit his face. He looked and saw that it was a baseball, the round white ball rolling after landing on the ground. Instead of doing the normal thing and picking it up and throwing it back, he left it alone to hold his eye instead, figuring that it was gonna get swollen up and turn into a bruise.

"Next time when I say something, you better listen to me… or else…"

Logan didn't have the guts to ask 'or else what?' He already knew the answer. Instead, he nodded weakly at the guy, who nodded back at him with satisfaction written all over his face.

"I have so much news to tell you… but first… follow me to your test to see if you can do your real tests." Logan gave him a one-eyed confused look, to which the man sighed. "My boss likes to give his visitors a chance to leave. But first things first, you have to prove your worth to him. If you succeed, then you can start the other challenges and fight to leave. Fail… well," he smirked and laughed darkly, chills going up Logan's spine. "I don't think you wanna lose this, Logie."

"Only my friends call me that," he stopped himself too late. Now this guy was gonna get pissed at him and throw something else at him. Maybe a bowling ball this time, or a basketball. Whichever he picked, it was gonna hurt like heck.

The man, instead of throwing another ball at him, smiled. "But we are friends… aren't we?" the warning tone in his voice at the end told him that if he didn't give the right answer, things were gonna end badly for the brainiac of Big Time Rush. Logan swallowed his pride and gave the guy what he wanted, nodding at him slowly; making the man blocking the door grin. "That's what I like to see. So, Logie…" Logan almost vomited. "Wanna know what happened to your friends?"

Logan jumped to attention, his hand falling from covering his eye, showing that he indeed had the forming of a bruise now covering his left eye. His eyes were wide in fear and he was close to grabbing the man by his collar and demanding to know what was going on with his friends. The guy was gonna tell him anyway, best not to fuck that up now and ruin the whole thing.

The man smirked at his anticipation, deciding that it could be fun to not say anything and leave him in suspense. But then Logan might do something stupid that'll piss him off and then he might kill him in anger and annoyance. His boss wouldn't like that. If it was anyone else, the killer wouldn't care, but since this was Kendall's best friend, he needed to take it easy with him. He didn't want to get killed himself because of some stupid and dumb mistakes that he might make. Patience was something he needed to learn or it was gonna get him killed one day.

"Kendall Knight, the boy that my boss has a weird obsession with for reasons I don't know, crawled on broken glass." The man started to explain as he led Logan out the room, the brunette absolutely in shock over the news that he just heard. "That kid is one tough son of a bitch that's for sure."

"Why did he do that?" he asked in a slow breath, still trying to process what he heard. Maybe this guy was lying. Yeah, that had to be it. He was lying to scare Logan and distract him from his plans. This guy was good, he'll give him that. That was a creative lie.

The man laughed, "My boss also likes to give the families of his visitors a chance to come and find them. Depending on how many are left, he sends them a total of five to twenty challenges to complete and after each one, they get a piece to where this building this. Since only three of you are left, they'll have to do fifteen challenges." He waved his hand through his brown hair. "They already completed three. Each one of them did one."

"Are you lying to me?" Logan asked quietly, a part of him hoping that this guy was lying to him just to upset him. He would rather get hit by the baseball again if it meant he was lying and Kendall and the rest were alright. He would even take a small beating if he knew that his friends were okay and not injured.

"Nope. Kendall crawled on broken glass, James took a bunch of damage to the chest and Carlos was… not sure if you wanna hear what happened with him." He warned with a smirk on his face, sounding like he wanted to tell him anyway but would give him the chance to deny the knowledge of what happened with Carlos. He was surprised the kid did it. He actually did his challenge. But now he was on the brink between life and death. If James didn't do his next challenge in time… Carlos would most likely die.

Logan gasped at the reveal of James. James wasn't one to do something as dangerous as risking damage to his chest, but Kendall wasn't one to crawl on broken glass either. Were they really doing this shit to get closer to saving him, Katie and Mama Knight? Did they really not care about themselves and only cared about saving them? And what happened to Carlos? Why wasn't the guy sure that Logan could handle hearing about what happened to Carlos? Now he needed to know or the suspense was gonna kill him.

"What happened to him?"

"Look… it's time for you to test your worthiness of escaping." The guy ignored his question about Carlos and focused on the door in front of him, sounds of barking being heard in the back behind it, making Logan curious and frightened. He placed the key into the hole and turned the knob, the barking getting louder and Logan's fear rising. What was that loud barking? "Don't mind the barking. The rabid and rabie-infested dogs here don't shut up."

Logan's fear rose at the revelation of there being dogs here. Why did they have dangerous animals here? What was the purpose for it? If an animal had rabies the best thing to do was to either give it a rabies shot or to put the poor animal down. Keeping them by you and endangering your life was just plain stupid in Logan's opinion. And now he was in danger too because of it.

"Are you hungry?" the sudden question caught Logan off-guard. "I forgot to ask if you wanted food."

Should he admit that he was and get something to eat but run the risk of something being in the food? If they kept sick animals here, what was in the food that they had? Should he trust that there might be something in the food and starve? Or should he take the risk and test it out to see if it was edible to eat? Logan was hungry, not having anything to eat since the small gathering that he and his friends had the other day. He could feel his stomach about to growl, much to his chagrin. He couldn't have this guy seeing him as vulnerable. He needed to remain tough so they couldn't use the fear he was obviously feeling against him. He needed to remain strong to save Kendall's family until he arrived or he escaped with them.

"No." Logan's voice came out a lot stronger then he thought it would. "Just show me to where I have to go." Logan wanted to get the challenge he was about to face over with so he can move a step closer to getting out of here. The man shrugged at him, not bothering to care if the boy ate or not. This guy was a tough one to read, Logan noted. He seemed to jump back and forth a lot between jackass and a neutral guy. Not that Logan really cared about this guy's persona mishaps; it just would've been easier if this guy can focus on acting one way and not that of two different people.

The dark hallway that Logan was being led down added to the creepy feel of having the sick dogs stare at him with a hunger look in their eyes. If they had a chance, they would attack and possibly eat him. He couldn't hide the gasp of fear he had when one of the dogs attacked at him through the cage, the barking turning into growls of rage at the frightened boy. He heard the man snicker at him for his fear but didn't care in the slightest bit. He had a reason to be scared since a rabies dog wanted to take a bite out of him. The dog sunk back into its cage after Logan got further away from it, the growls starting to come from the apparent rage of not getting a meal out of him.

Logan could say that he now had a fear of dogs, or at the very least, rabie-infested animals.

Keeping pace with the man, Logan's mind went into guessing at what his challenge was gonna be. What can the killer make him do when his life and the lives of two people who were important to him were on the line? The answer to that was probably anything, but Logan still had his limits of what he'll and what he'll not do. He heard quiet whimpers and knew that they were coming from more dogs, although these didn't sound like the hungry ones that wanted to take a bite out of him. These were normal dogs. Logan couldn't see them, but by the sound of their whimpering, they were scared. Logan felt bad that there wasn't a thing he could do to help them.

Reaching the end of the corridor, the man that Logan still didn't know the name of placed the key into the lock of the door in front of them The fear that Logan was feeling due to the dogs was telling him to run and make a break for it, being afraid that the dogs were gonna break out and come after him. But he couldn't run yet. He still had a lot to do in terms of escaping here with the Knight women.

Turning the key, Logan and the unnamed man walked into another room, this one actually having light unlike the previous corridor that they were in a moment ago. Logan saw two cages at the far corners of the room, not being able to see what was in them, but from what he's been seeing, it was probably rabies infested animals waiting to sink their teeth into something. Standing in the middle of the room was another man with his back turned to Logan and the unnamed man. When he turned his head to face them, the familiar shades and the rigid smirk made Logan shout in anger at the man.

"You!" Logan's angry finger pointed towards the killer. "When I get my hands on you…!"

The killer smirked, "You'll do nothing. Unless you can live with the guilt of causing people you care about to die. James is willing to do anything to save someone he cares about… and what he did was inhumane if I might add. He replaced one guilt with another… just like you'll have to do right now."

The sudden information made Logan's anger reside for a moment, his eyebrows rising in confusion and his hands balled into fists. "What did James do?" a little bit of fear leaked into Logan's voice, the worry of James' actions taking over for that one second.

The killer waved his hand in dismissal, showing that he didn't really care about telling him of his friend's actions. "If you ever see him again, you can ask him yourself. He's actually going farther than I thought he would in these challenges. I expected Kendall to go farther faster, but James is really impressing me." The killer smirked. "But can you keep up with their process, I wonder."

"Why are they doing challenges?"

"To get closer to finding you, of course. I really only expected Kendall to be able to do his challenges, him being the leader and the tough one of your group of friends."

"Why do you seem to hold Kendall in high regard?" Logan wondered just why the killer seemed to think so highly of his best friend. The killer, when they first met, seemed to distaste the idea of hurting Kendall, only threatening to kill James and Carlos if Logan didn't come willingly with him. Logan knew that Kendall never met this guy, as he wouldn't keep the identity of this guy a secret from anyone. So why did the killer seem to give the impression that he knew Kendall and knew stuff about him? Maybe Logan had another goal to add to his list of things to do. Keep Kendall away from this guy.

The killer grew a weird posture at the mention of Kendall's name, sighing somewhat happily. Logan was now weirded out beyond words description. Now he had to get out on his own. He didn't want Kendall to come and meet this guy. Kendall might be in a worst position than Logan was in if he came here. The killer coughed before somewhat regaining his rigid posture from before.

"Because I know how he is. He will succeed and he will find you and then we can meet again after so long." Before Logan can open his mouth to talk back, the killer continued. "Enough about him, this is about you and Kendall's family. I know you wanna see them," Logan's face pretty much gave him all the answer that he needed. "If you can complete this, I'll move them into your room. If you don't… then you _**might **_get another chance to move them. Let's see if you can do this pre-challenge as I call it."

Logan's attention went back to the two cages, the killer noticing and smirking at him. "Very perspective, Logan. Yes, your pre-challenge lies in those two cages and boy I can't wait to see the choice that you make."

"Why is this a pre-challenge and not just a regular challenge?"

"Because, since you are in my opinion the weakest of Big Time Rush," Logan would've gotten annoyed by that but he did say it was _**his **_opinion. At least he was honest. "I'm giving you a chance to back out of doing the challenges. You don't have to do anything. You can just wait until Kendall and the rest come. You can spare yourself the pain of destroying yourself… but,"

'There's always a but.' Logan thought humorlessly.

"But then Katie and Jen will pay the price if you don't do any challenges. If you choose not to do this one, then nothing happens. You just go back to your room until we come back and get you for the first real challenge. I just wanna see if you have the guts to do the things your friends are doing right now to find you." He walked to the cages, standing in the middle. He slammed the sides of the cages, the bars rising. "Both of these people, a small boy and a pregnant woman, are infected with a poison that is slowly killing them."

Logan gasped at the crumbled sight of a small kid and a woman with a bump in her stomach on the cold floor of the cages. These sick bastards are now attacking the innocent to test him!? And Kendall, Carlos, and James are doing shit like this too!? And all to find them!?

"You can end one of their suffering, Logan. Pick one to relieve of the pain of slowly dying into nothing more than a sound and then nothing but peace. You can't pick both. If you choose to shoot both, then you'll surely regret it…" he smirked, "Or maybe Katie might regret it. Or maybe Jen. Can you live with that, Logan? Can you live, if even for two weeks, that you caused one of them to get hurt?"

No. The answer was no. Logan wouldn't be able to live with the fact that he got someone he cared about hurt just because he was trying to be a hotshot and a good guy. Kendall would get on his ass about trying to be all big when he should've just listened for now and waited for Kendall to arrive. He could see the exchange happening perfectly in his head. Kendall would probably hit him for getting his sister or mother hurt. He would still feel guilt over not being able to save someone, but that was the challenge. And this was something James did? Did James have to make a choice like this?

He was handed a handgun by the man that he had been walking with. The smart part of Logan's brain told him to shoot these two and then escape. But he remembered that there were a dozen more guys at the main entrance and he wouldn't be able to take them all. He would only get these guys because of the element of surprise. They both were watching him, waiting for him to make his choice.

Logan stared at the two people. The small boy was crumbling in his spot on the ground, appearing to be in a lot of pain. His brunette hair was slowly falling down into strands onto the ground, possibly a side affect of the poison coursing through him. He was whimpering in pain as he called for his mommy to help him. The sight broke his heart and Logan almost raised the gun to shoot him then. But he needed to check the condition of the woman.

The pregnant woman also had her hair falling out slowly into little strands. She was holding her stomach and whispering something to the baby inside about how things were gonna be okay and that someone was gonna help them. Logan was that someone. He was the person that will make the choice. She was also groaning in pain and coughed up some blood from her mouth. Damn this was a tough decision. How the hell did James make a choice like this is beyond him? His respect for his friend grew.

Logan's heart beated violently in his chest as his grip on the gun tightened, his knuckles turning ghost white from the amount of pressure he was putting on them. He didn't know what to do. He didn't know who to relieve. A part of him wanted to walk away, but then he'll have to live with the guilt of being a coward and not helping anyone. He wanted to be a doctor all his life. Doctors helped people and they did everything that they could to help those people. If this was also a pre-challenge, just how hard were the real challenges gonna be?

He took one last look over both before he made up his mind. The tears flew down his cheeks as he walked over to the cage he picked, the killer and his goon watching him like hawks. Logan stared down at his target, pointing the barrel of the gun toward the person. He didn't hold the tears in as he stared down with a sorry expression.

"I'm sorry." Logan's voice was choked the second before he pulled the trigger.

BLAM!

The pregnant woman's forehead now had a hole in it.

Logan lowered the gun to his side, kneeling down to the now dead woman and held his hand over the stomach where the baby had been. "I couldn't let a baby die a horrible death before it got a chance to live. I'm so sorry." He felt the killer take the gun away from him, Logan not fighting back as he cried over the body. "I'm sorry," the man that Logan spent more time with led him back to the prison he called a room.

"Katie and Jen will be taken to you soon. Nice choice, Logan."

"F-Fuck you!" Logan spat at him, receiving a slap to the back of the head by the man.

"Pete… enough." The killer told the man, now identified as Pete. "He's already hurt enough."

Pete groaned, "Fine, boss." He helped Logan up, the boy now having a headache forming into the back of his head and quickly spreading. "Let's go."

Logan might've killed two people, one not even getting a chance to live yet, but at least the two people he did it for were now gonna be safely protected in his arms. He did well, he thought. Albeit in a fucked up way, but he did well.

Katie and Mama Knight were now gonna be in his protection. He just had to keep going. He was now their protector. He had to be a brave man from here on out; until Kendall arrived with help.

Logan dreaded anyone who got in Kendall's way.

That boy will pull no punches to find them.

Logan's transition from coward to brave was starting and would only grow as he went on in his days as a prisoner.

Too bad it only got harder and more inhumane from here on out.

End of Chapter 6 of Heavy Blood

Damn, Logan made a tough choice. But at least the girls are gonna be with him now.

We won't see Logan for a few chapters, as now I have to focus on Kendall and the rest and show what exactly happened that led James to do what the killer, who keep in mind is a psycho, called inhumane.

So for the next three to four chapters, it's all Kendall, James and Carlos. I think it works better like that. Focus more on them and check in on Logan every little bit, right?

Quick note, Logan will receive a friend in the form of another prisoner but no Logan/OC romance, just friendship.

Also, I've been selected to write an oneshot for "Semi Official BTR Oneshot Day". I've decided that it's gonna be a James/Carlos friendship fic that shows the pretty boy helping his crazy friend win the heart of Jo. It's gonna be humor filled and friendship filled. I'm gonna enjoy writing it.

Next Time: Row 1: James


	7. Row 1: James

Disclaimer: Don't own Big Time Rush

AN: **Thanks to all of those that reviewed, alerted, and favorited this story. It's only because of you guys that I am writing this story in the first place as this was a request from a fan of mine. The next three chapters, counting this one, is basically a set up for James' character development and will ultimately play a part in how he acts for the remainder of the series. (Yep, more installments are gonna come for this). **

**So if James is your favorite BTR boy, you'll be seeing a lot of him in the next three chapters. He's my second favorite boy to write about, the first being Kendall as I have more experience with him.**

**Enjoy.**

Chapter 7- Row 1: James

James Diamond was lounging in the waiting room chair, his right leg folded and resting on top of his left while he stared ahead to the double revolving doors that led outside to the entrance to the hospital. His index finger was in his mouth, James biting the middle of it with a look of worry on his face. It wasn't the fear of Kendall not making it. Dr. Sean had already told him that the boy was gonna live and be alright; he would just have a couple of scars on his arms and legs from the glass. James imagined the reaction that Kendall was gonna give when he realized that he was gonna be scarred physically for the rest of his life. He was gonna be pissed. That, James knew for sure. He was gonna be more vengeful towards the killer for causing him this pain, which James also knew to be true. He just wasn't sure how Kendall was gonna be able to keep going on with the challenges if he was gonna have a hard time walking and using his arms for a bit. Even if the boy was as stubborn as a mule, he would probably collapse at this point if he were to go and do another challenge at this point, no matter how much he would go on and say that he was fine and could keep going. James feared for the kid's life. If Kendall was gonna get killed, it was gonna be by his own stubbornness.

His phone conversation that he got on shortly after Carlos had left and his little briefing from Dr. Sean was finished, happy at his accomplishment to get someone to get Kendall out of the hospital. He told Dr. Sean a little bit ago, maybe a few minutes, that he called Kendall's 'sister' to come and sign him out. Kendall was all ready to go. He wasn't damaged or fractured too bad from the cuts he received. He just needed to stay off his feet for a few weeks and just take it easy. James almost laughed when Sean had told him that. For the next few weeks, Kendall wasn't gonna be taking it easy anytime at all. He would be out working and doing horrible things that a serial killer assigned for him and his friends. The talk that he had with the person on the other line was interesting to say the least. James was sure that he would have to come clean when the person he was calling had picked up the other line and asked what was up. Much to his surprise, she didn't press for details on to why Kendall was in the hospital in the first place, saying that she would be there as soon as she can. James wanted to believe that he was in the clear and wouldn't have to talk about what happened, but if he knew her well, he was gonna have to come clean about what happened to Kendall when she got there. At least he got the chance to think of a story.

He couldn't think of a good story. He was thinking about sticking with the story that he told Dr. Sean. Kendall had wanted to do a good deed and went to pick up broken glass in the street and had fallen when Carlos yelled in his ear and rolled over when they told him not to. That seemed like a reasonable enough story to believe given their personalities, but he was worried that she would see through it and call them out on it. James shrugged. He would wing it if she questioned his bullshit story.

Turning his head to the side, he glanced at the direction of where Kendall was somewhere in the hospital. James was happy that Kendall was gonna be okay and wouldn't die, but he was worried about the condition he was gonna be in when he had to do the next challenge. Would he be able to do it? If James knew Kendall as well as he knew that he did, Kendall would say he was ready to go again, despite having almost gotten killed. James respected his friend and his optimism and his determination, but he felt that it was gonna get him hurt someday, or worse. Kendall had received scars from his venture into the tunnel and James was sure that it was gonna slow him down a little when he had to do his other challenges. He could see an aggravated Kendall right now, hollering in anger at how he was slowing down just because of a few stupid measly scars. James hoped he was wrong though. He hoped that Kendall wouldn't be held back by the scars.

Thinking about Kendall and his challenge made his mind race back into the fear that he has been trying really hard to hold back. He had fear of what was gonna happen to him when he had to step up and do what was his thing to do. Turning his head away from the door, he lowered it into his hand and started to rub the base of his forehead, feeling a massive headache come along from thinking about what awaited him in the next few hours. James' fear of what might happen to him from his challenge was inspired by what happened with Kendall and his challenge. Would James survive his? Would he die? So many scary questions were being asked by him and he didn't know what to say or do to make them stop. The only thing he can do at this point is wait for Carlos, wait for the person he called to come, and then leave to go and do his challenge. In James' mind right now, getting it done now and not having to worry about it later is what he needs to do. It'll give him peace at mind and another step closer to solving this crisis that they were in. And if he died… at least he'll die doing what he feels is right. Putting his life on the line to save those he loved.

Drifting his mind back to Carlos, he wondered if the boy had succeeded in getting that single father to come and help. James was somewhat against the idea of having him come and help, feeling like he and his friends should be the ones who should go up against this killer and had almost held Carlos back from going. But, after thinking about it rationally, he figured and thought it was a good idea. If they had someone with experience with this crisis, challenges, and with the killer, they could get this done faster and without any casualties. James just regretted not thinking of that earlier before Kendall had gotten all determined and went to go and do his challenge before they really had a chance to talk about this. They all did just rush in and not think about going for help and without really thinking of a plan. They only decided the order of which they were gonna do the first three challenges and then dropped the box off with Jo and just went on ahead to Kendall's challenge spot. The guilt James was feeling at that was really hitting him hard and he wanted to build a time machine to go back and stop Kendall from going on in and just go around to the back where the paper was.

Anyway, back to Carlos. James was hoping that Carlos wouldn't have had to use that gun for any reason. James feared that his friend might get attacked in the night by the killer's men and then it'll just be James and Kendall against the killer. If they kidnapped three of their own without them even knowing, then the same can happen to Carlos right now. James smacked himself for thinking like that at all, but he couldn't help it. When you're faced with something as stressful as what they were going through, your mind just races and thinks of all of these worst-case scenarios. If Carlos had gotten extra help, then things were looking up for them after the mini heart racing event of Kendall almost dying. He would get up and see him at some point… after he came back from completing his challenge. He just needed someone here to be with him in case if the doctors or what ever needed something. James just needed to wait until he got what he needed and would slip out first chance that he got.

His mind wandered into Logan's condition and how he and the Knight women were doing. Were they okay? Were they all together? Were they even alive at this point? James hated to be thinking of all of these negative worst-case scenarios but like he mentioned before, his mind wandered into crazy and fearful territory when he was under a great deal of stress and fear. James had confidence that his brainiac friend would be able to devise some sort of escape plan for him and the girls. Logan was that smart after all. He could figure out the answers to some of the hardest and most difficult questions out there. He could easily find out a way to escape and call for help.

James didn't forget how scared Logan got under a lot of pressure and remembered the times where he got scared for no good reason. Logan was the more fearful one of the quartet, that wasn't much of a secret. While most would think that that would be a bad thing, James knew that Logan wouldn't let anything bad happen to Katie or Mama Knight and could take a beating if it meant keeping them safe. Logan would do anything to protect them and keep himself alive, no matter how scared he was in what ever situation he was being put in. Logan was strong. James knew Logan would hold out until he escaped or when they found him.

James hoped it was the former.

James laughed a little at the fact that within the short span of a few hours, Big Time Rush was being torn apart in different ways. Kendall was almost killed, Logan was gone, Carlos was withdrawing into a shell, even if the boy didn't see it, and James himself was tormenting himself with a lot of questions and stressing himself out when it was unnecessary. What was once a close unit of four was now a scattered and fragile unit of the same number… for now any way it was still a four man unit. He used to laugh when people said that a lot can happen in a few hours, not really believing it. His faith was shifted when Big Time Rush first started and a lot had happened within a few days, but now… with all of this happening, he believed that a lot does happen in a few hours. And within another couple hours, James was gonna be in a battle for his life and for another piece of the puzzle for where their family was being held. James laughed again and lowered his leg from the resting position it was on from his other leg so both now were flat on the ground.

He was getting a bit impatient now. How long does it take to get to a hospital? James could've been to The Palm Woods and back six times from how long he was sitting here in the waiting room lobby by himself. He tapped his fingers against his thigh, tapping up a beat that he was enjoying in a weird and bored kind of way. He was taking a guess now in his head at who out of the two people he was waiting for would come first. He honestly hoped that any one of them came soon before James left to do his second challenge. He would have better peace of mind if someone was here with Kendall when he left. Enough time was wasted already. He needed to leave soon. Any longer and more time would be gone and then they would need to rush on through to get the next challenges done.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw someone entering the hospital from the front door. Turning his head up so he can fully see what was going on, James saw Carlos entering with a smile on his face. James raised an eyebrow at how accomplished Carlos looked. Carlos strolled over and retook his seat that he occupied when they first got there with Kendall.

James curiously asked, "What's with that smile?" he quickly smirked, "You got yourself a girlfriend or did you win a lifetime supply of corndogs while you've been gone?"

Carlos shook his head, relaxing in his seat a little bit. "No. Sadly." He laughed at James' guesses. He wished the tall boy was right on one of the two, or maybe both. Then there would be more good news to share. "I got something better…" James patiently waited for his friend to answer, despite a part of him saying to leave for his challenge now since Carlos was here and could watch Kendall.

Carlos' smile stayed on his face as he talked. "I convinced the dad to help us."

James' face brightened up from what it was before, relief and delight replacing the nervousness and fear that he felt before. "No way! You did!?" Carlos nodded. "But the guy's an ass…"

Carlos frowned slightly, images of Frankie's pampering of his daughter filling his mind. Frankie was anything _but_ an ass. He was caring and sure he might've come off as an ass when they first met earlier that day, but after Carlos thought it through, he figured it out. Frankie just lost his family. He lost the mother of his child. If he wasn't an ass then Carlos would think that something was wrong. He's seen two sides of that man today and he could easily see that one was an act and one was true.

"No. He's not an ass, James. He's actually a good man." James was surprised at Carlos' reveal. "I watched him interact with his little girl through the window and he was completely different then the way we seen him today. He was soft, gentle, and caring to her when she cried. It was only when I knocked on his door that he turned back into the way he was with us."

James just had to make this remark, "You spied on him through his window?" he asked. When Carlos nodded, James smirked again. "That's kinda creepy, man."

"I'm glad I did," Carlos brushed off his creep comment, knowing that James was just being stupid. "If I woulda interrupted that moment between him and his daughter, I would've been angry at myself for doing so." He softened. "I'm kinda mad that I dragged him back into this problem. He's already dealt with the killer once and here I come and drag him back in."

James sighed. Carlos was starting to blame himself for something that he didn't need to blame himself for. He couldn't have that. They needed Carlos more than ever with Logan gone. Carlos had one-third of the tasks needed to save him and Kendall's family and the boy needed to be on his A-Game. Anything less and things were not gonna end well.

"Did you ask him?" James leaned into the side of his chair so he was closer to Carlos. Carlos was confused by his question but nodded anyway, "Did he say yes?" Again, Carlos nodded. "There you go. He didn't have to say yes. You didn't force him to do it. You didn't point the gun at him and give him no choice other than the one you wanted, did you?" the reminder of the weapon James had given him for protection jogged his mind into thinking mode. "Wait…?" Carlos tilted his head to the side, waiting for James to continue. "You didn't point the gun at him right?"

Carlos resisted his urge to smack James upside the head, instead narrowing his eyes at him. "Yes, James. I pointed a gun at him with his three year old daughter watching us and forced him to help us or I would shoot him."

"Kinda harsh, but if it works it works I guess." James either didn't catch his sarcasm or was just being an idiot.

"No! I didn't even pull it out!" Carlos quickly dismissed James' thoughts on how he convinced Frankie to help. "Gosh James, do you really think I would resort to doing something like that when I just said that I feel bad for getting him back into this mess?"

"We're resorting to a lot of crap we never would've done before with our family in danger." James' answer was clear and cool, his tone of voice really setting the mood in which he felt right now.

Carlos nodded sadly at James' answer, feeling like no other way could've been said to describe what they were feeling right now. Carlos left out the part of his story in which Frankie pointed a gun at him. If he said it, he figured James and Kendall would dismiss him as dangerous and not want him to help. They needed Frankie's help. He had experience and that's what was needed most right now. Carlos couldn't have him getting dismissed just because he acted on protective instinct and pulled a gun at him. He didn't shoot. At least there was that.

"Speaking of which," Carlos started. "How is our 'Glass Crawler' right now?"

James chuckled at Carlos' nickname for Kendall now, "He's okay. One of the doctors here told me that he'll just have a few scars from the glass. Other then that, he should be good to go. They asked for his guardian to come and sign some papers for him."

Carlos' eyes widened, "How's that gonna work? Mama Knight was one of the people that were kidnapped and there isn't anyone else that lives with us that can pass off as a legal adult. Is Kendall stuck here until we save them? Because if he is, we're screwed. We need him to do his part of the challenges. If he's stuck here, then we'l-"

"Calm down, Carlos." James leaned forward and placed his hands on his friend's shoulders, looking at him square in the eye. "You're overreacting. I got this. I figured it all out." James smirked with pride. "She should be here soon."

"She…?" Carlos asked.

"Yeah, she. I talked to her a little bit after you left to go and talk to…" James trailed off as he had no idea what the name of the father was.

"His name's Frankie Wilson." Carlos revealed to him.

"Yeah… I talked to her after you went to talk to Frankie." James picked up where he left off. "I didn't tell her why Kendall was messing around with glass, so don't think I caved this early." James gave a warning look to Carlos, who held up his hands in surrender. "She said she'll be here as soon as she could."

"How long was that?"

"Forty minutes, give or take." James leveled his hand and shook it side to side. Carlos nodded. "So…" James brought Carlos' attention back to him. "How does he act around his daughter when no one's around?" he curiously asked.

"Why do you wanna know?" Carlos asked, tilting his head to the side

James adjusted his position on the chair and stretched his legs out to wake them back up after they started falling asleep. "If I'm gonna be working with him, I wanna know how he really is so I don't get annoyed by his douche-like personality."

"That sounded so wrong," Carlos chuckled, folding one leg over his knee.

"If he acts like how he was today for the next two weeks, I might just snap and go berserk in an annoyed frenzy. That… or I get into my first fight in two years." James chuckled at his own joke.

"Okay Rocky," Carlos slapped him on the arm playfully. "If it makes you feel better, I'll tell. He's really good with his daughter. I couldn't hear what was being said, and I'm glad I didn't because that would just be really weird and mean if I did, but from what I saw; he really loves his daughter with all his heart. He held her when she was crying and was the perfect enigma of 'perfect parent'. When she interfered with our talk, he pushed out my existence and focused on her and only her, reassuring her that he wasn't gonna leave her or his brother."

"Why would she think that?"

Carlos grew embarrassed for what he had to say next, "I put the gun in the front of my pants and he could see it. He knew that the killer sent us one for our challenges and his daughter assumed that I was gonna kill him when he pointed out the gun."

"She's three, right?" James asked, drawing a blank on the exact age of the little girl. Carlos nodded in clarification. "That's so horrible that a three-year old knows more about death and killing than she should. She should be playing with dolls, not worrying about her only parent left getting killed."

"It is horrible, I agree. My heart goes out for that little girl and Frankie." The talk about killing jogged Carlos' memory. "James?" Said boy looked at him. "We might have to kill people…" Carlos revealed.

The reveal had the breath that was coming up James' throat fall back down into the pit of his stomach. Why would Carlos say that? That's not funny in the slightest bit. Talking about killing actual living human beings wasn't funny or cool at all. James knew Carlos was a joker, but not to this extent.

"Frankie kinda revealed that he killed someone, so I'm just going off of my own guess here when I say that we might have to kill people. It could be one of the challenges." Carlos guessed. "Nothing should be tossed out as a possibility here, James. If Kendall had to crawl on glass, killing someone doesn't really fall that far behind in terms of abnormality."

James hardly heard a word that he just said, only focusing on certain words that caught his attention:

"_We might have to kill people._"

"_Frankie killed someone._"

"_Killing someone doesn't really fall behind._"

James took a deep breath to try and center his thoughts as his mind was running amuck. Carlos brought up a good point. It might've been scary and hard to sallow, but it was a good point; something that they shouldn't forget so easily. James almost missed the beep of his cell phone, showing that he had received a text.

"Who's it from?" Carlos asked as he watched the slightly frightened James look at his cell phone to see who texted him. Revealing what he thought they might have to do sent a wave of guilt up Carlos' spine. James was now frightened at the idea of killing someone and Carlos had no one to blame but himself for that. He should've just kept his mouth shut for this once. That should've stayed a secret along with the fact of Frankie pointing a gun at him.

James didn't mean to ignore Carlos' question, but he didn't have time to answer it. She was here now, right outside the door. Now that she was here, he could get busy and go and do his own challenge. He didn't want to tell Carlos. The boy would insist he come with James as back up but James wanted Carlos to be here with Kendall in case if the boy needed something.

James held his hand out to Carlos, the Latino boy looking confused at the outstretched hand. "I need the car keys," James asked him. Carlos was about to ask him why before James continued. "I left my wallet in the car." He lied. "I wanna get something to eat."

Carlos seemed skeptical of James' reasoning, but handed him the keys nonetheless. James nodded a thanks at him before he stood up to go out to the car. Carlos watched him go on by to the door and exit. It was only a few seconds later that someone else entered the door, making Carlos finally understand what James said before about the Kendall problem.

Lucy walked in.

It did make sense. She could pass off as an adult and sign Kendall out of the hospital, no questions asked and no problems being created. Carlos smiled at James' thinking. Carlos thought that if James was gonna call someone to get Kendall out of the hospital, it would either be Gustavo or Kelly. But now that Carlos thought about it, having Gustavo and Kelly here would probably cause a lot of issues that they can prolong for a little bit. Carlos didn't like lying about what was going on with him and his family, but he knew that talking about it right now wasn't the best idea.

Carlos waved her down from his seat, making sure that she could see him from where he sat.

She nodded at him and made her way over to him. "What's happening, Carlos?"

"Oh, you know… Kendall acting like an idiot and falling in glass." Carlos told with a shrug of the shoulders. Carlos didn't know that his little white lie matched James' almost perfectly. Goes to show how the two of them were alike in a lot of ways. Being a good liar was just one of the many.

"And that happened how?" she raised an eyebrow at him.

"He tripped," Carlos gave the easiest answer that popped into his head. It sounded rational, so there wasn't anything wrong with it.

Lucy nodded slowly at the energetic boy's answer, not sure if she exactly bought that excuse. She could imagine that happening to Carlos, but not to Kendall. Kendall didn't strike her as the kind of guy who would trip and fall in glass.

"What did James say you were coming for?" Carlos asked after a few seconds of awkward silence between the two of them. James needed to hurry back. How long did it take to get a wallet from the car?

"James called me about saying that Kendall was in the hospital and that he needed me to come and fill out some papers since Mrs. Knight is out of town right now,"

Carlos felt the sadness and anger return at the mention of their adoptive mother.

"James said Kendall wasn't in critical condition and would be fine and not to worry. He just needed me to do the paperwork to get him out of here tonight." Lucy explained with a shrug of the shoulders. "I'm happy to help, so that's not a problem."

"Thanks so much. Kendall's probably spazzing out right now in his room, bitching and complaining about being stuck in a hospital." Carlos laughed at the image of his friend being forced to sit and wait for someone to get him out with his arms crossed and a frown on his face. Even in times where lives were on the line, Carlos still found something to laugh about. Gotta keep some level of enjoyment so everything wasn't a depressed and angst mess.

Lucy laughed too when she thought about her ex being stuck in his room with no hope of getting out until someone got him. Now she thought about leaving him in there for the night just to be cruel and funny. The end result of a pissed off Kendall would be definitely worth it in her opinion.

"So where are those papers?" she asked, her hands awaiting the documents needed to be filled out.

Carlos realized that James did all of this while he was gone and that he had no clue as to where the papers were. James would've handed them to him if he had them. Carlos thought since he knew Lucy was here, that he already gave them to her when he went to the car. Speaking of which, where the hell was this guy? Did he get lost on the way outside the door?

"Ummm… I guess the front there?" he pointed to the front desk with a questioning look on his face, not really sure where to go here.

"Gee, thanks." Lucy rolled her eyes playfully at the boy. "Real helpful." She decided to listen to him and walk to the front desk, starting a conversation about signing out Kendall from the hospital.

Carlos looked to the front door, waiting for James' slow ass to walk back in with his wallet and an apology for taking so long. James wasn't slow so there wasn't a reason why he was still out there in the car. Unless he was taking the car apart to look in the engine for it, he should be back now and Carlos knew James wasn't doing that and if he tried, when they got Logan back, he would be pissed at James for messing with his car.

Fear rose in Carlos' chest as he wondered why James was taking a long time. Did something happen to him? Did James get hurt? Carlos shook his head to dismiss that thought as if James got hurt outside of the hospital; someone would've brought him back in to check on him. It didn't make sense why he wasn't back yet. Carlos wasn't no Einstein, but he wasn't completely stupid to believe that James had a valid reason for taking a long time to go outside and get his wallet, which should've been in his pocket.

Wait… didn't James get something to eat from the vending machine before? Carlos didn't know exactly as he was too busy thinking about Kendall, but he was sure that one of them bought something to eat.

Carlos was about to get up and go see what exactly was taking him so long before Lucy walked back to him, holding a few pieces of paper in one hand and a pen in the other.

"Lucky guess," she smirked before she sat back down next to him. She started filling out the papers, "Where's Logan? I haven't seen him since earlier today when we were all in Palm Woods Park."

Carlos now had to lie about where Logan was to someone else. First to Jo and now Lucy. Carlos really hated lying to his friends, especially about something as serious as kidnappings and him, James, and Kendall risking their lives to try and get them back. He wanted to tell the truth, but knew that he needed to lie for a little bit longer. By tomorrow, someone will find something out and then they would have to come clean about the kidnappings anyway. He could hold out for a few more hours.

"He's sick in the apartment," he used the same lie that they used when they asked Jo to hold onto the box for them.

"Really?" she asked as she filled out the papers. "He seemed fine before."

"I guess he wasn't," Carlos shrugged indifferently.

"Tell him I hope he gets better soon."

'If I could talk to him, I would ask him where he is so we can go get him.' Carlos thought, wishing that he had someway of getting in contact with Logan. He hoped his friend was okay and doing well, as was Katie and Mama Knight. Carlos wished the three of them the best until Kendall, James, and himself found them.

"Do you know where James is going?" Lucy asked him after a few seconds of silence.

"What're you talking about?" Carlos asked in confusion as he gave her all his attention now. Did James leave? And if he did, where the hell was he going?

Lucy shrugged, "He got in the car and left. He didn't say where he was going and didn't even say hi to me. He just walked past me and started driving. He wasn't heading in the direction of the Palm Woods, though."

'He didn't… he didn't just go and… no way…' Carlos' eyes widened. 'That son of a bitch!' he shouted angrily in his head, the loud volume that only he heard banging against his skull in a painful way but at this point, he didn't care.

James just went to do his challenge… on his own… without telling him.

That idiot!

And the messed up part was that he didn't see where James' challenge was gonna be held so it wasn't like he could get up and follow him. James was gonna get an ear and fistful when he came back… if he didn't die doing his challenge.

Carlos had complete faith in James' ability to do his challenge but you just didn't know anymore. That, and because Kendall was hospitalized due to his and since James was alone, what if he got hurt and needed someone to call for help? He would be screwed and would die in some dark and cruel place that no one knew where it was.

A hand on his shoulder brought him back into the real world, "Carlos? Are you okay?" Lucy's concerned voice asked him. "You seemed to be lost in thought. That and you were glaring at the floor."

Carlos cursed himself for acting completely stupid and letting his anger seep through for a short moment. Now Lucy was aware that he was mad at something, particularly the actions of a tall brunette dumbass. He would have to play this off and assure her that nothing was wrong.

"I'm fine, Luc. I was just thinking about this comment James made to me before." He didn't even realized he used a nickname for her, generally only giving nicknames to people he felt close to.

She didn't seem to notice either, "What'd he say?"

"That if I don't get a girlfriend soon, he'll think I'm gay." That was so a James comment that Carlos actually wondered if he said it at one point and he was just remembering it now. Another example of how much alike these two were.

"I'm pretty sure you'll find one soon, Carlos. You're a cool guy. One of the coolest I know."

Carlos grinned at her compliment, "Why thank you." He thanked. "Do you know where Kendall's room is?"

Lucy nodded, remembering seeing the number on one of the papers. Carlos just noticed that they weren't anywhere to be seen, showing that she must've just given them back to the front desk. "Room 237."

"I'll go get his lazy ass and then we'll head back home." Carlos was already standing and heading to where Kendall was probably impatiently waiting for someone to get him. On top of impatiently waiting, he was probably gonna be pretty pissed when he heard the stupid stunt that James pulled.

…

James put the car into parked as he arrived at his destination.

This building resembled that of the old power plant where they were at before. Bricks were scattered outside by the stoop, the door was unhinged and making a squeaking like sound as it swung back and forth in the cool air. The windows on all three floors were shattered, duct tape and wood being the replacements for where the glass once stood. The fire escape didn't look to be completely safe either; the ladder looking like it was one step away from falling to the ground.

James was sure that if he touched that ladder, he would meet a gruesome impact with that beautiful pavement beneath it.

James double-checked the address to make sure that he was in the right place. Sure enough, the address numbers on the paper matched the fading gold-colored ones at the top there. James was surely freaked out by the haunted house that was in front of him. He was sure that he could hear the ghosts of all those who used to live in this building around him.

And to think he came here on his own to spare Carlos and Kendall some pain of seeing James hurt and/or kill himself. He was glad he did now. Now he didn't have to hear Kendall's remarks about how this place was appropriate for the killer and about how Carlos was so scared of the appearance of this place.

James stood out of the car, placing the keys in his pocket securely while he closed the door. He turned back to the abandoned three-story house and took a few hesitant steps forward. He wished he had his friends with him now. He needed their support.

"I'm scared," James admitted the harsh truth to himself. "I want my friends." He stopped at the first step of the stoop, the night air sending chills up and down his spine. "Maybe I should go back and get them. The hospital isn't that far away. I can get Carlos and Kendall and just come back later." He spoke out loud, sounding like a complete spazz while he talked to himself.

If he went and got his friends then that defeated the whole purpose of him coming here on his own. Time was of the essence and James knew that with every second that passed was another second that his kidnapped family came closer to death.

He would suck it up and deal with it this once and from now on, he wouldn't go anywhere without them ever again. He needed them. He needed their presence to feel better about himself and to give him the confidence that he felt he was lacking right now. He needed his brothers to make him take that one final leap that he needed to begin his part in saving his family.

He climbed the steps at a slow pace, the picture of the scorpion dangling between his fingers. James' chest was rising at an abnormal speed and he started to sweat. Again, he needed Kendall and Carlos here right now to help him. God, he could be so stupid at times. Trying to do dangerous shit on his own, he criticized; what was he thinking?

He squeezed in the opening where the door was unhinged from and stepped into the darkness of the abandoned house, amplified by the dark skies of midnight. James was wishing he had Kendall's matches with him so he can see where he was going. Tripping over what he assumed were bricks and pieces of wood, James finally found a table hidden behind the staircase. A light switch was almost missable by the wall to James' right. Clicking it on right away, James noticed that there was a paper with only one sentence.

"_Take your shirt off and walk upstairs._"

James' thoughts went back to the scorpion paper that he was holding. On it, it read that he was the most fit out of him and his friends. This guy definitely had some kind of weird likeliness to his body if he wanted him to take his shirt off. Placing the paper in his pocket, James took off his black-tee-shirt and held it in his hands, his well-toned chest only visible by the small light.

James sighed as the cold air made its way in the closer he got to the door where the steps to the staircase were a few feet away. He felt himself get chills as goosebumps started covering his skin. He walked up the steps and waited for what was at the top to come and strike him.

…

"James did what!?"

Kendall's angry voice caused Carlos to place his hands over his ears to try and drown out the rage that was not very well-hidden on Kendall's part. Kendall was, like Carlos had predicted, impatiently waiting for someone to come and tell him that he was free to go. Carlos told him how James managed to convince Lucy to come and sign him out without actually telling her what had happened, to which Kendall felt proud of James for fooling someone as smart as Lucy. That pride quickly turned into anger when Carlos also told him that James went off on his own to do his challenge.

Carlos removed his hands from his ears, "James went off on his own to do his challenge. If I would've known he was gonna do this, I would've stopped him before he left."

Kendall sighed, gripping the bandages that were wrapped around his arms. Kendall's chest and arms were wrapped in white bandages to cover the marks that the glass had left on him. Kendall also had bandages around his legs but Carlos couldn't see them due to the blonde boy having his pants on. Kendall was just about to put his shirt on before Carlos came in the room and explained to him everything that happened while he was knocked down and being taken cared of.

"I know you would've stopped him. I'm not mad at you, Carlos. I'm just mad that James decided to be stupid and go off on his own like that. He knows that we're in this alone and he didn't even wait for me to get back up to go and help him. I swear, I love that guy, but he makes me wanna smash my head into the wall due to his stupidity sometimes."

Carlos agreed with Kendall that James should've waited for them to come and help him. He's seen what kind of damage that the challenges can do and still took it upon himself to go at it alone. Carlos didn't think James was stupid in the decision he made, as he must've had a valid reason for doing so, it's just that this choice might've been the wrong one.

Remembering his successful attempt at getting Frankie to help, he smiled at the aggravated blonde in front of him. "I got some good news though," Carlos watched as Kendall looked over to him. "You know that dad that we met today?"

Kendall nodded, forming a frown on his face as he remembered the face of the guy who acted like a dick to them just because they wanted to help. What did Carlos have to say about him?

"I convinced him to help us with these challenges," Carlos waited for Kendall to start grinning and saying how they had a better chance at succeeding now. He also expected Kendall to start praising him for his work and giving out congratulations.

All he got in return was a frowning Kendall with his hands balled up into fists.

"Why did you do that?" Kendall asked. His voice was calm; opposite of what he was feeling. Kendall couldn't stand that guy, not liking the attitude that he gave all of them when they just wanted to help him and his family. He was a prick and Kendall couldn't stand pricks. Kendall now learned that James and Carlos both made stupid decisions within the last hour.

Carlos could pick up the level of discomfort and anger that Kendall was trying to hide, having seen him do it many times when faced with something that he doesn't like. "Because he knows what we're going through." Carlos started his attempts to try and calm Kendall.

"How? Other than the fact that he had family taken from him by this killer?" Kendall asked with a cruel smirk, not expecting Carlos to really come up with an answer to his question. How much could Carlos have found out about this guy within the two hours that Kendall was out?

"He lost his eye doing the Butterfly Challenge," Kendall's eyes widened. "He did what you did and came out a lot worse than you did. He also mentioned that he killed someone, but he didn't tell me who." Again, Kendall's eyes widened even more so. Carlos bit the inside of his cheek to stop himself from saying that Frankie had a gun in his face, almost slipping it out on accident. If he told Kendall that, he could already picture him branding him as dangerous and not allow him to help.

Kendall took in what Carlos just said. This guy that came off as an asshole did the first challenge that he did and lost a body part? Kendall felt a large amount of fear and relief, thinking that the same thing could've happened to him if he messed up. And the killing of someone? No wonder he was an asshole to them. Kendall still didn't appreciate it, but after going through the trauma of _**that**_; he deserved to be angry. He wondered who he killed and why, but knew that Carlos had gotten lucky in getting what little information that he got from this guy. He didn't really strike as the kind of guy that will tell you his life story on request. Carlos was definitely the right person to go and convince him to help. Anyone else and they would've probably got cursed out by the man. Lord knows that Kendall wouldn't have had a pleasant conversation with him if he went and talked.

"I also watched him interact with his daughter before I talked to him," Kendall looked at Carlos in question. Carlos sighed, "I looked in through the window to see if he was home. And before you call me a creep," Carlos remembered James' remark about his actions and saw Kendall smirk, most likely about to say that exact word. "I don't regret doing it. If I would've interfered with that moment, I would hate myself for a long time. He's not a bad guy, Kendall and I know you don't like him, but can you at least try and get along so we can save your mom, sister, and Logan?"

Carlos was begging now and Kendall didn't like to hear him to do so. He felt a little bad now for questioning Carlos' choice to go and ask this man for help. Now that Kendall thought about it, it was a good idea and took back what he thought about Carlos making a stupid decision. If anything, he was the only one thinking rationally right now. James went off on his own and Kendall wasn't thinking straight either when it came to making choices. He judged someone based on one encounter and labeled him as an asshole. He labeled a one-eyed single father an asshole. Guilt found its way into the fear and relief that Kendall still felt at getting out of the power plant with two eyes.

Kendall nodded at Carlos. If this guy agreed to help after losing his eye and family, he couldn't have been too bad of a person. He's throwing himself into the fray of the Painter Killer for a second time. That took courage. Kendall didn't doubt that he had his own reasons for helping. If Kendall was in his shoes, he would only rejoin the horror of the Painter Killer for revenge and nothing else. Maybe that's what he wanted or maybe it was something else, Kendall didn't know. He couldn't guess what kind of person he was after being wrong the first time.

Carlos smiled and nodded at Kendall's change of mind, "Thank you, Kendall."

"Sure," Kendall smiled back at his friend. "If he can help, then I won't deny it. It's just gonna be annoying dealing with all of his remarks and his attitude in the beginning, but I'm sure I'll learn to tolerate it. I deal with James on a daily basis, after all." He laughed at his joke.

Carlos laughed too, "Yeah… let's just hope he gets his ass back soon. If his challenge is as bad as yours, then he might have to come back here anyway to get treated." Carlos grew quiet after that, thinking about how James was doing and wondering if he'll be back soon. He wished that he got a good look at James' paper so he can go and find him. He couldn't stand just sitting here playing the waiting game for James to come back.

If he even came back.

"Are you sacred?" Kendall asked after a small beat of silence, noticing how Carlos grew quiet after he was done talking. Seeing Carlos all quiet and to himself had Kendall worried, not used to seeing his lively and active friend act like this. Carlos should be grinning and running about like normal, not sitting here all quiet and depressed as one of the last three members of the 2J family that wasn't kidnapped and quite possibly one of the last two alive if James didn't return. This was all so messed up and Kendall wished he can make things better faster. But he had to stick with the challenges and keep on going until the end.

Carlos didn't bother to try and lie, "Yeah, I am. About James and about when it's my turn. I still can't get over how on my paper it says goodbye. It's like the killer is expecting me to die or something in my challenge. Do you think that's true?"

Kendall didn't have the time to think about it after looking at the box for the first time earlier in the night. The end of Carlos' note on his paper revisited Kendall's mind as he remembered the promise he made about Carlos not having to go first and would go last, scared of what horror awaited his friend. That time was up now. Kendall was done with his challenge and James was out doing his. Carlos would have to do his within the next hour or two.

He thought it was true. He thought it was true that the killer thought that Carlos was gonna die if he wrote goodbye. All three papers had three different kinds of writing. Kendall's was encouraging, James' was sarcasm and playful, and Carlos' was taunting. Kendall wouldn't admit it but in a weird and fucked up kind of way, the encouragement the killer gave him helped him to go on through the tunnel. His determination to save his family was obviously stronger, but there was that lingering feeling of encouragement and confidence he got from the writing of the guy that Kendall strongly hated.

Kendall wouldn't let Carlos get killed. He would rather die himself than to see that happen.

"I won't let that happen," Kendall spoke. "You're gonna get through your challenge alive and well like I did… only without all the cuts and bandages." He gestured to his messed up arms, legs, and chest.

Carlos nodded and smiled gratefully at his friend, believing him when he said that. Kendall always followed through on his promises and this wasn't any different. It was why Carlos strongly felt that they would find their family. It was just the path that they will take to get there that made Carlos scared.

"We should go back before Lucy starts suspecting something's up." Carlos reminded the bandaged boy of the girl in the waiting room. Lucy wasn't one to wait around for too long. If she thought something was up, she would go and find out what was up. They couldn't tell her about the challenges now, or anyone else for that matter. Earlier in the day, it being around 12: 23 AM right now, the kidnappings will be found out by authorities. They would savor the last six or seven hours they had of complete privacy.

Kendall nodded in agreement to what Carlos said and tossed his green t-shirt over his head, the fabric of the shirt being ripped and sliced in places due to the glass. His legs struggled to stand straight, wobbling a little bit from the sudden pressure. Carlos wrapped an arm around him so Kendall didn't fall on his face. Kendall smiled gratefully at the dark-haired boy, glad that he was still here with him. He wouldn't let the taunt that the killer gave him come to pass. Carlos will stay alive and nothing would stop Kendall from keeping that promise.

Once he was steady, Kendall gently removed himself from Carlos' hold and began walking on his own, burning sensations flowing through his cut up legs. He couldn't let any sign of weakness show or they might keep him here for longer. Kendall already felt like that enough time was gone to waste during his two-hour nap. Once James came back, they would only stop doing these challenges to eat and sleep and to hell with everything else. They'll meet up with the father who agreed to help them and then go from there. If all went to plan, they'll be done with these in a week, three to five challenges in one day sounding like a good idea to Kendall.

Images of his mother, Katie, and Logan coursed through his mind as he and Carlos walked back down the halls of the hospital and back to the waiting room where their friend was waiting for them. With each pass of their face, Kendall's determination grew and grew. He will do anything to see their faces again, alive and well, and if that meant doing harsh and gruesome shit like crawling on broken glass.

He knew this was just the beginning, but he also knew that as time went on by, things will get easier.

He just had to be strong until the end.

For his family.

…

James' climb up the steps finally finished after he stopped a few times in slight fear. His shirt still dangled between his hand and he took a moment to look around the dark corridor of the second floor.

This old abandoned apartment building's second floor was hard to describe when you couldn't see a damn thing that was around you were James' first thoughts as he glanced around. Many doors were dangling off their hinges, exposing the rotten and disgusting rooms that were supposed to be hidden behind them. Dust, mold, bacteria, and much more filled the rooms and James' nose was surely feeling the effects of the strong odor, the boy having to use one of his hands to cover it.

James caught sight of a small piece of white paper that was nailed to the wall. James took the one step needed to read it in the dark, now understanding why Logan always said to never read when it was pitch black in the room. Your eyes would strain and hurt from the extra effort it took to read. James read it:

"_The next piece of paper is on the third floor. Walk around the floor to get to the next staircase._"

It didn't sound bad at all. In fact, it sounded completely easy and normal. Nothing sounding off or wrong about it in any way.

James didn't buy it. Not after what happened with Kendall and the glass. There was a catch here. He knew there had to be.

Stalling long enough already, James started the walk down the hall, the sounds of his footsteps echoing in the dark and quiet house. Walking past the first set of double doors out of five, he heard something snap. After that snap, the ceiling hatch opened and out came a needle moving at a complete fast pace. It pierced James' skin and landed behind him, the sudden cut startling him.

"Oh shit!" James wheezed out as blood flowed down his chest. There was the catch for him and his challenge. Walk and get stabbed by flying needles with no shirt on. This guy was definitely a creative bastard for sure.

His hand ran down the cut that was now on the right side of his chest, examining the blood that flowed down the tip of his finger. That stung worse than any bee or wasp could ever give. James took pride in his perfect body that he worked really hard to make over his seventeen years of life. That explained what the killer meant in the note when he asked James if he could push aside his well-loved beauty to help his family.

If James backed away, he would be acting selfish and only thinking of himself. They would lose a crucial piece of information that can be used to save the family. Even if it was only a part of a picture, every little piece counted. James was having an internal conflict right now about whether to continue or not and the lone fact that he was even having issues with this is what hurt him most.

Did he really only care about his looks and nothing else? Would he really let his family die just because he wanted to keep looking good? James might've been selfish to a degree, but he wasn't a horrible person. His looks could be retrieved but his family wouldn't be retrievable if he failed and they died.

James took that one step forward to continue, having been forced to step back due to the sudden stab wound that he received. James eyes kept looking up at the ceiling, waiting for the next needle to come. He heard the snap and braced for impact. He did feel impact… but in his arm and not his chest where he was expecting it to be.

James felt the needle stay in his arm as the hatch on the wall to his left closed. So, the killer arranged it so it came from different places, huh? Now James couldn't know where it was gonna come from. He would have to take it and deal with it like a man. James grabbed the needle in his arm and forced it out, sending another sting through his arm. James kept his mouth closed and gritted his teeth to reduce the amount of pain he was feeling.

James kept up his little walk of pain and acupuncture, having been stabbed in the chest and arms one more time each, leaving nasty cuts where they either grazed or stabbed him. James was sure that he was gonna wind up as a pincushion by the time this whole thing was over with.

Turning around the corner, his chest and arms all bloody and burning from the needles, James saw the staircase right in front of him. James had half-a-thought that there was something in the staircase that was gonna screw him over. Maybe it would fall apart and break his legs or something.

James started his descent up the stairs, his chest and arms still flowing out blood at a slow rate. James waited for the steps to snap and break under him but it never came. At least he got some kind of break. That's what he thought until he climbed the final step and heard the familiar snap. He braced, but was met with three stabs in the chest and arms; one in each.

James was close to collapsing from the pain he was feeling but knew he could keep going if he tried hard enough. He was almost to the end and would not quit when he was so close. He used his trick of keeping his mouth closed and gritting his teeth when ever he got stabbed, finding it to help in a way and with the pain, James would take any kind of help to reduce it.

Hearing the snap again, James gasped in shock and surprise as a needle bypassed his face and grazed his left cheek, the needle barely missing his eye. If James didn't know any better, he would guess that Frankie lost his eye during this. James would count himself lucky if he can get out of here with 20/20 vision. He knew he wouldn't die here. This was just endurance. He was just worried that he would lose a lot of blood, skin, and now he felt like his eye was gonna go. James saw firsthand what these challenges can do to someone in the forms of Kendall and Frankie and worried that he might either get off like Kendall or like Frankie did.

Shutting his left eye from the pain coming from under it, James continued to the desk that he can see at the end of the corridor. Just a little more and he would be done, and then he can go back to Carlos and Kendall and help the Latino boy with his challenge. James can speak from experience how no one should do these challenges alone. Although he was glad that they weren't here now. If they were, they might have taken fire from the needles and gotten seriously injured. At least James' decision to come alone wasn't completely stupid.

As he was no more then ten steps away from the desk, James heard the final snap and this time out came the most needles so far at once. Five launched into James' body; one in the left arm, two in his right bicep and three in his chest, hitting his pecks and stomach respectively. The two in his bicep and the one in his stomach stayed in while the other two just graced him on by. Dropping his shirt, James grabbed the first one in his arm and gently and slowly pulled it out, moving onto the second one right after. His arm stung like hell and his stomach was a lot better off then his arm was, not hurting as much as his arms and chest did. At least James had that to be proud of.

That… and the next part of the picture. With this, they had 2 out of 15 challenges completed. James got reassurance from the paper next to the next piece of the puzzle by saying he can go back the way he came and put his shirt back on, the traps all having been activated if he made it here. James picked his shirt back up and threw it on; hiding most of the cuts he received. The only visible ones were the one on his face and arms.

Walking out of the building, the next piece securely held within his hands, James smiled with pride as he climbed back into the car and started the drive back to the hospital. Parking outside, he took the couple steps to the door and opened it to see Kendall, Carlos, and Lucy looking at him as he walked in.

"James…" Kendall sounded too calm for an odd reason. James he was gonna be mad once he found out he went and took off the way he did and he was sure Carlos said that exact thing. So, why was he acting calm? Maybe it was Lucy's presence and if so, James was never so grateful for it. "What the hell were you doing?"

James smiled a cheesy smile in Kendall's direction, trying to get on his good side so he didn't have to get yelled at. He showed the small paper. "I got the second one," and to his relief, Kendall's fake calm exterior changed into one of true genuine happiness and relief.

"Awesome!" Carlos exclaimed, rushing over to get James in a hug. The sudden pressure on his chest made James wince in pain, something both of his friends noticed. They would ask when they were alone.

"Are we gonna go back to the Palm Woods or no?" Lucy asked, noticing the weird way James had winced when Carlos gave him a hug. She would ask him later but for now, she was tired and wanted to go to sleep.

"Gustavo wants Carlos and James to help him with something first," Kendall said, getting attention from the two boys he mentioned. "He just called me and said that he needs the two of you to go to him and help him do something. He says its challenging and that it needs both of your skills to do it."

James and Carlos nodded when they realized what he was saying. Kendall was saying for them to go and do Carlos' challenge next. If the three of them stayed out together, suspicions would rise, but if only two of them went, things wouldn't be as bad for them.

"Alright, thanks for telling us, Kendall." James nodded in appreciation and walked out with Carlos to the car to drive off to wherever it was that the killer wanted Carlos to go and do his challenge.

Kendall walked out with Lucy and was silent the entire walk back to the Palm Woods. Lucy kept glancing at him, more specifically the bandages that were on his arms. Kendall knew the girl wasn't stupid, being one of the smartest people he knew, behind Logan of course, so he could guess that she had her suspicions on how Kendall received the cuts in the first place.

"What really happened?" Lucy asked him as they stepped in through the main lobby, speaking the first words since Kendall and her left the hospital. Kendall expertly avoided her gaze, focusing on the door that led to the pool.

"I fell in glass," he used the lie Carlos told him to use. "It was a careless mistake on my part."

Lucy didn't believe him. They walked into the elevator and she pressed the button to the third floor where her apartment was. She grabbed Kendall's hand before he could press the button labeled '2'. "You're not going anywhere until you tell me the truth."

"That is the truth," Kendall's plan that he was forming in his head was now on halt. He was planning on going back out once he departed with Lucy and meet back up with James and Carlos. Looks like he needed to wait a bit longer.

"Carlos is a lot of things, but a liar ain't one of them. I could tell he was lying the moment he tried to tell me his bullshit story." Lucy explained, causing Kendall to start thinking of ways to train Carlos in the art of lying. He never was good at lying, always telling the truth and never being able to keep a secret.

"He's not lying," Kendall said, being dragged out of the elevator by Lucy. He would've attempted to try and break out but he was exhausted from crawling on the glass and still injured. He had little to no strength right now.

Lucy ignored Kendall's lie and stopped by her front door. Her door was apparently not locked because she simply turned the knob and walked in with Kendall being dragged like a child who didn't want to go to the dentist. Inside were Camille and Jo, both sitting in chairs in their pajamas.

"What's going on?" Kendall asked in genuine confusion at seeing one of his exes and Logan's girlfriend in the room so late at night.

"Like I said, I'm not letting you go until I get the truth and now you can't run away." Lucy gestured to her two female friends, who immediately went to staring at the bandages on Kendall's arms.

"Kendall, what happened to you?" Jo asked worriedly. She was jolted awake a few minutes ago after getting a text from Lucy that Kendall was in the hospital. She rushed over to see what was wrong and now that she saw Kendall in bandages, she wanted to know what happened that made him get them.

"I fell in glass," Kendall stuck with his story, knowing that if given enough time, they'll believe him and let him go.

"That doesn't sound like something you would do," Camille spoke up after examining the white bandages surrounding Kendall's arms. Like with Jo, she was sleeping until she got a text from Lucy that told her about Kendall being in the hospital and to meet up in her apartment, telling her to use the spare key she gave her to let her and Jo in. Lucy had a bad habit of sometimes forgetting her key when she left the apartment.

"It happened, I'm fine, and everything's alright." Kendall was getting annoyed right now at their worrying. He appreciated it, but right now wasn't the best of times. James and Carlos' lives could be at stake and he wasn't there to help after promising Carlos that he wouldn't let anything happen to him.

"It's obviously not if you had to go to the hospital," Jo reminded. She leaned forward in her seat, "Just tell us what's wrong. We wanna help you if you're in trouble. You, James, and Carlos have been acting weird ever since you asked me to watch that box."

"What box?" Camille and Lucy asked in unison. Kendall wanted to slam his head in the wall or run away, but the pain in his legs wouldn't let him do it if he tried.

Before Jo could explain, Kendall's phone started to ring. Curious, he took his phone out and saw that it was James calling. "Hello...? James...? Wait, what happened...? Is Carlos…? What!?" his sudden yell startled the ladies. "I'm coming now!" he hung up. Kendall didn't bother to hide the tears that were starting to fall.

"What happened, Kendall?" they were concerned for him. They don't think they've ever seen Kendall cry before, so this must've been big.

Kendall didn't want to tell, but since they were here and would ask him until he answered, added to the fact that they weren't gonna let him go until he talked, he decided that the short time of hiding the challenges was over.

"Carlos got poisoned… He's dying."

All hearts stopped for a split-second.

Carlos Garcia was dying.

End of Chapter 7 of Heavy Blood

I hope the wait was worth it.

Liked the Carlos/Lucy hints there? I might go somewhere with that.

What happened to Carlos that he got poisoned? Well, next time we find out.

James' descent into a darker side of his personality is gonna happen in the next two chapters.

Hope you all liked Part 1/3 of what I like to call 'James' Descent into Madness.'

We'll actually see Frankie and his family next time and foreshadow of a future pairing.

Next Time: Carlos: Row 1


	8. Row 1: Carlos

Disclaimer: Don't own Big Time Rush

AN: **We now enter the juicy stuff. And by juicy stuff, I mean the angst stuff that I've been waiting to write about for a long time now. We see more of James' descent into darkness and whatnot. The story gets more angsty and drama-like from here on out. Nothing slows down here. It only gets more intense from here on out.**

**You can see that I'm excited as hell right now for this.**

**Enjoy**

Chapter 8- Carlos: Row 1

Kendall ran out of Lucy's apartment, using the news of Carlos to his advantage and slipping out when the girls were still trying to process it. The guilt slammed against his chest repeatedly as he repeated James' words to him over and over:

"_Carlos was shot with poison!_"

Kendall blamed himself. He should've gone. He shouldn't have cared what Lucy would've possibly thought if all three of them stayed out after he was already admitted to the hospital. He shouldn't have been so damn paranoid and logical. He should've just gone with his intentions as Carlos' friend. He should've been there and maybe this wouldn't have happened.

If he was there, Carlos would be fine and they wouldn't have to worry about him dying. If he was there, everything would be okay. Goddamn, this was all his fault. Carlos was gonna die now because of him.

His legs were burning from the pain that he suffered only a few hours ago, but that was the last thing that was on Kendall's mind right now. If anything, he deserved this punishment. He deserved any pain that came his way right now. One of his best friends was dying because of his stupid decisions.

Kendall never moved as fast as he did right now in his entire life. He was like that of a champion track star on caffeine energy inducing drugs. He didn't care if it was late at night and he was waking people up. He didn't care what people thought of what he was doing right now. That's what got him in this mess in the first place. All he wanted to do was get to Carlos and James and find out what exactly happened. James only told him bits and pieces of what happened over the phone and even then, Kendall couldn't understand due to James being in hysteria and panic-mode.

As he ran in the streets, heading to the hospital again where James said he brought Carlos; Kendall felt rage coursing through his veins. This Painter Killer was already on his shit list for kidnapping his mom, sister, and Logan; but now Carlos was dying because of one of his sick games. Kendall's unholy level of hatred for this man was past what he considered to be normal and now all he wanted to do was cause this man harm and to kill him.

"_If I see him… If I ever meet him face-to-face… I'll kill him…_"

It was as simple as that. Kendall wasn't scared of what he thought like he would've been long before any of this started. But after what he and his friends been through these last few hours, Kendall didn't care about being scared of adapting anymore. Carlos' words from the hospital before about how they might have to adapt and do horrible things to get closer to the truth didn't scare him anymore. He would gladly change if it meant getting closer to the man that he wanted dead.

He made it after his run. The hospital was in sight. He barged through the front doors, not caring if people were staring at him in confusion for either making noise or as to why he was here after only leaving a few minutes prior. He looked around for James, searching for any signs of his tall brunette best friend. He found him pacing back and forth somewhere off to the corner by the doors that led to the hospital emergency rooms. Kendall saw his hands wiping his eyes, no doubt trying to dry his tears. This was really serious if James was crying, who never cried for anything in his life. He got scared, yes; but never cried. Carlos' condition must've been really serious if James had finally broken down and cried.

"James…" Kendall's voice was a lot lower than he intended it to be. He couldn't use his anger that he felt to amplify his voice to the volume that he wanted it to be. Instead of coming out as loud as an electric guitar like he wanted, he came out as low as a ukulele in a large crowd of screaming people. Seeing James this lost and hurt made Kendall control himself around him so he didn't scare James even more.

James heard Kendall calling out to him, moving his hand away from his red eyes, which had tears flowing down them. He never cried. He didn't cry for anything bad that happened to him. He didn't cry when his parents got a divorce; he didn't cry when his dog died when he was eight; he didn't cry when he lost his favorite toy when he was six. But here he was at seventeen, almost eighteen, crying because one of his best friends was dying in the hospital. The funny part was that he didn't care. He didn't care if he was crying. All he cared about was that Carlos was dying because he didn't try harder to convince him to not take the shot.

"Kendall..." he acknowledged his friend's presence, his voice sounding the same despite the crying he had been doing. He walked so he stood face-to-face with his friend, seeing the worry and anguish on his friend's face. James bit his lip to stop the new wave of tears from falling due to him thinking how he was supposed to explain this to Kendall without getting the boy angry at him. Once Kendall heard the full story of what happened he was gonna hate him forever and ever and throw him to the wolves, or in this case: The Painter Killer.

"James… What happened? And please, don't hold anything back… I need to know…" Kendall's anger that was there before subsided to allow his curiosity and fear to pull through. He needed to know how Carlos got hurt and needed to know every detail that led to him coming here. Basically, Kendall wanted the story from when they left here a little while ago to where he and James were standing right now.

In the span of a few hours, Big Time Rush just lost half of its members. Logan was kidnapped by a psycho serial killer and Carlos was clinging to life in the ER with poison going through his system. If they lost both of their little brothers, James and Kendall would die on the inside. It was already hard dealing with the kidnappings and now having to deal with Carlos' battle with life and death too? Why couldn't they just catch a break?

James sucked in a choked breath, refusing to look Kendall in the eyes in fear that Kendall got angry at him and glared at him. He's been on the end of Kendall's glares before, but they were only when they were messing around and play-fighting over the smallest of things. This time was more serious. One of the most serious circumstances that they've ever been in. James' mistake might cost Carlos his life and he was sure Kendall would feel the same way when he told him the story.

"Well…" by this time, Lucy, Camille, and Jo had caught up to Kendall, making it in time to hear James start telling his story. "Carlos and I drove to where his challenge was supposed to be and when we got to where we were supposed to go, we went inside the building…" Kendall nodded, motioning for him to continue. "The place was abandoned like the building was for my challenge…"

"What was your challenge actually?" Kendall still didn't know what James went through when he was on his own while he was knocked out. All he knew was that whatever it was; James had managed to complete it.

James sighed, lifting up his shirt to show Kendall the cuts that he received from the needles. They ignored the gasps that came from the girls behind them, instead going back on track to the topic on hand: Carlos' challenge and how he got poisoned.

James continued, "We walked around for a little bit before we found where we were supposed to go. The room was the only one that had light and we took that as a sign that that was where we were supposed to go. There was a window that allowed us to see the inside. All there was inside was a table, chair, and a gun that was standing up with the help of a book. String was wrapped around the trigger of the gun…"

"Don't tell me…" Kendall was putting the pieces together, feeling nauseous as he remembered the message of Carlos' note. His read goodbye and that he would need to test his bravery. And with what James said, he could figure it out what happened.

"Yes…" James was losing his battle with his tears. "He had to get shot for his challenge. I tried to stop him when he went inside, but if I went in; we would fail and lose the paper with the next picture. Carlos talked me into staying outside while he went in and made his own choice. He sat down and was given a speech about what would happen if he got shot…"

"Did you hear?" it was the first time that one of the girls spoke since they arrived, still confused about James' story and what he and Kendall were talking about. They would need them to explain everything from the beginning if they were to have any hope of understanding what's going on.

"Yeah…" James answered Camille's question, running his hand down his face to try and compose himself. "There was a poison dart in the gun and it'll kill him in a few hours after getting shot. I yelled at him from outside to not do it and that we'll find another way to find Logan and the girls. He turned and smiled at me before he said yes and got shot in the chest…"

James started crying again as he remembered the sound of the gun going off and Carlos falling off the seat he was sitting, the poison dart tearing into his shirt and in his chest. James almost missed the killer telling them over the speaker where the picture was, He threw the gun against the wall hard enough that it came apart, the picture sliding out from where the grip was. James ran and pocketed it while he carried Carlos' prone body over his shoulder to the car and drove like a madman to the hospital.

After he had made sure Carlos was in safe hands, he called Kendall to alert him about what happened and he had paced around and let loose tears for one of the first times in his life. James hadn't let it go that if he would've told Carlos something else to get him to rethink his choice, then they wouldn't be back here and Carlos would be standing and walking. Now he knew Kendall blamed him for sending Carlos to his death.

"Is there anyway to save Carlos' life?" Kendall asked. There had to be a way to save Carlos. He had five challenges ready to go just like the rest of them did. If the killer really wanted Carlos to die, he would've saved this challenge for last. But this was Carlos' first one. There had to be a way to save him, there just had to be some way.

James remembered the last thing that the killer said when he was getting the paper. It was why James was out here in the waiting room instead of trying to get in where the doctors were busy messing around with Carlos and the poison. There was a way, and James was the one that had to get it. It was his next challenge.

James nodded at his friend, "Yeah… I have to be the one to get it…" Kendall was about to argue with him before James held his hand up to silence him. "The killer told me where the antidote was and how to get there. He specifically told me to not take you with me, not wanting to run the risk of you getting hurt." James was still freaked out at how concerned the killer sounded when he told him about how he didn't want Kendall's safety to be at risk because of him and his next challenge.

"Those were his words?" Kendall asked, getting angrier at the killer for everything that he was hearing. First he makes him crawl on glass, then he makes James get cut up, then he makes Carlos get shot with poison and now he was sending James out on a mission to get the antidote and didn't want Kendall there for his safety? If Kendall had some doubt before about hating the man, it was long gone by now. Every cell in his body was filled with anger and hatred to the man that was controlling them like puppets.

James nodded, "Yeah… I'm sorry, Kendall. I know you want to come with me and I really want you to come to… but I need to do this alone, not just because of what the killer told me; but because of my mistake with Carlos."

"What happened to Carlos wasn't your fault…" Kendall told him, shocking James to his core. He really believed that Kendall would hate him for not trying harder to save Carlos and for letting him march off to his death. But here his friend was telling him that it wasn't his fault. It confused James greatly. "This was his challenge and his choice to make. If he wanted to take the hit, then he chose to take the hit."

"But that hit is gonna get him killed…" James explained to Kendall slowly, thinking that the boy wasn't understanding the gravity of the situation here. Even if it was Carlos' choice to make and even if it was for him to do on his own, a true friend and a good one would've did their best to try and stop him from getting hurt. James didn't try his hardest. He only told him one thing before Carlos made him back down and let him make the choice. James felt like a real shitty friend for his lack of persuasion to help his little brother.

"No… It won't…" James looked at him confused, not understanding what Kendall was talking about. The doctors themselves confirmed to James when they were running that the poison will kill him if an antidote wasn't found in time. He didn't understand where Kendall was going with this.

Kendall smiled, placing a strong hand on James' shoulder. "Because you are gonna succeed and save Carlos. You are gonna get that antidote and be back here in no time." Kendall's voice radiated nothing but confidence in James. Kendall really believed that James wouldn't fail and that he would be back here in time with the antidote. He knew James and his loyalty and dedication to his friends. This wasn't any different. He knew and felt that James would do anything and whatever it took to save Carlos.

James stood in his place, feeling shocked and bewildered at the amount of confidence that Kendall had in him. He still expected Kendall to be angry at him for allowing Carlos to get hurt. He didn't expect Kendall to smile at him and give him a confidence booster. James didn't know what to say or what to do.

"What if… What if I don't?" Kendall looked at him confused, not quite sure what he was saying. "What if I don't make it back in time? Or what if I don't come back? You'll be all alone to face this guy… I can't let that happen to you… I won't let that happen to you." James was shaking his head wildly at the thought of him failing and possibly dying and leaving Kendall alone as the last BTR member. He knew there wasn't a chance that Kendall would be able to do three rows of fifteen challenges by himself. He would try, James knew that much, but the boy wouldn't be able to succeed. It was too much; even for the stubborn and invincible Kendall Knight.

Kendall let out a small chuckle, making James and everyone else look at him in more confusion. Kendall tightened the hold that he had on his shoulder, boring his eyes into James'. It was all in Kendall's eyes. The confidence and the trust that Kendall had for his friend was easily shown in his green eyes. James was in awe. Never has he seen Kendall so trustful of him for anything. It was like Kendall knew what the outcome was gonna be for James and his second challenge. It was like he could see into the future and knew what James was gonna do and what was gonna happen.

His smile brought a smile to James' face. He really appreciated the fact that Kendall had so much trust in him to do something this big. He was putting Carlos' life in his hands when James felt like he wasn't worthy of it. When one of their friends was in trouble in anyway, Kendall always stepped up to take it in his own hands and wouldn't care about what anyone else says, no matter who they were. To see him hand the torch to James was a big deal for both of them. Kendall was taking a seat on the bench and was allowing James to take the shot.

"You got the hard part…" Kendall pressed his forehead to James', moving his hand away from his shoulder and pressing it to the back of James' neck, holding it in a tight grip. Kendall kept his eyes to James. "Just leave everything here to me…"

Kendall would look after Carlos to make sure he was safe here while James got what was needed to save his life. They would need to work as a team to save Carlos' life. Even if James was gonna be out there fighting to get the antidote, Kendall was still needed to make sure that nothing happened to Carlos while they waited for James' return.

James nodded, "Okay… Okay… Thank you, Buddy…" he wrapped his arms around Kendall and pulled him into a hug, Kendall following suit and hugging James back. The two boys just stood there and kept into each other's embrace, not sure how long they were gonna stay like that. Even if James needed to hurry and go find the antidote, he still had fear about what was gonna happen to him. He didn't know he was gonna die or not, so he wanted to hug Kendall one last time, just in case he didn't come back. Kendall might've been hugging his friend in a friendly way, but James was hugging his friend goodbye.

"Awww, bromance!" Lucy cooed at the affections between the two boys in front of her. Jo and Camille giggled at her statement.

Kendall and James broke away after hearing that and because James needed to get a move on. Every second counted here. James nodded sadly to the girls, his own quick way of saying goodbye to them. The girls dropped their smiles and giggles, all wanting to give James a hug just in case he didn't come back. But enough time was wasted already. James only had time to talk to one person and it obviously had to be Kendall. They were best friends. James would need a proper goodbye with Kendall in case of something happened to him. They weren't all upset that they couldn't properly say goodbye to James.

"Wait…" Kendall called James back for a second. Kendall eyed the girls skeptically before looking back to James. "You still have it?" Kendall held up his index and middle finger, pressing them together and holding them to the side, making a gun with his fingers. He had it lowered enough so hopefully the girls didn't see. They were smart and observant though and he would have to tell them everything since they knew about Carlos.

James nodded, "Yeah… Yeah, I do. And I have five of _**it**_ left."

Kendall nodded slowly, turning his head to the side to silently tell James that he can leave now. Kendall didn't like that James had only five shots. Carlos' gun could only hold six rounds and James already wasted one to open the lock to the door at the electric field. There wasn't time to get back to the apartment and get one of the other guns. James was stuck with the five rounds against possible danger.

James turned his head around towards the entrance and ran outside to the car, hopping in and taking off where he needed to go. A look of determination crossed his face as he drove on to where the killer wanted him to go. James' hands gripped the wheel tightly in his hands as he mumbled an encouragement.

"I'm gonna save you, Carlos. I promise. I can do this… I can do this… I can do this…"

…

Kendall and the girls were allowed to camp out in Carlos' room. Kendall had to tell them that they knew where the antidote was and that they had someone getting it to allow them to stay in. The doctors didn't believe him, so Kendall had to up the charm and say that if the person they sent didn't come back; they didn't want Carlos to die alone with no one there for him. Reluctantly, they allowed them to stay.

Carlos' breathing was raspy and only getting slower as the seconds ticked away. His skin was turning pale and he was motionless. Kendall's never seen his lively friend so… dead… so… weak. It was scary. Kendall wasn't prepared for this and nearly ran out when he first stepped in, but he knew that Carlos needed him to stick on by. He wouldn't abandon his friend when he needed him most. Carlos was on death's doorstep and he wouldn't let him face it alone.

Kendall had taken a seat on Carlos' bedside, trying so hard to keep his attitude controlled and his emotions in check. He had his hand resting against Carlos' with his second hand digging into the strands of his hair, trying to get some sort of reaction out of him. He got nothing except the shallow breath of the dying boy.

"Kendall…" said boy turned to look at Lucy. "What's going on here? Why is Carlos dying? Why is James going alone to get the antidote? Where's Logan and your family?" they all noticed the lack of Logan, Katie, and Mrs. Knight in what's been happening lately.

Kendall sighed, not really wanting to tell the story of what's been happening on his own. He would really like having James here to help him, but he was off doing something more important than being a storyteller. Kendall would have to suck it up and deal with this himself. It wasn't as hard as what James was doing right now.

He told. He told them the whole story starting from when they found the box to where they were right now. He didn't leave anything out. He went into as much detail as he could so they could fully understand what was going on. He had to stop when he got choked up about explaining how he felt when he found the apartment empty with James and Carlos. It always depressed him when he thought of it.

At the end, he was sure that the girls were as shocked as he had been when he first started this shit a couple hours ago. Camille started sobbing around the time that Kendall had revealed where Logan really was. He knew that they would've found out tomorrow anyway, but he would've liked these next few hours of peace and quiet from the constant questions that they were no doubt gonna give him.

"That box you three asked me to watch was sent to you by a serial killer?" there was one of the questions Kendall had been expecting. "Why didn't you guys go to the cops with this?" and there was another one. And to think he was gonna miss all this for a few more hours. What was he thinking?

"The cops are just gonna confiscate anything that's in that box and in that box is what we need to find our family. I'm not gonna lose our chance to find them just to give what's ours to the cops." Kendall really didn't have anything against the cops, but if they got involved with them right now; they were gonna be screwed.

"But doing it on your own is what the killer most likely wants you to do. Maybe if you ask the cops to let you keep the box, you can have some more help?" There was Lucy trying to find the best way for them to get through this. He appreciated it, he really did; but this became personal for him now. Maybe before Carlos' challenge he might've asked for help, but now with his friend here dying and another one risking his life to save him, it was now a personal battle between Big Time Rush and The Painter Killer.

"Carlos already got us some help…" he left that part of the story out since he wasn't exactly sure how Carlos actually managed to do it. He only told things in his point of view and he was knocked out when Carlos had gone out to get some help. He still had to come up with a way to handle the attitude of that dad. Even if Carlos told him that how loving he was to his daughter, Kendall wasn't his daughter. He would probably act like an ass to him and his friends and he needed to prepare for that encounter.

Jo, who was still clad in her pajamas with Camille, raised an eyebrow at Kendall before she smiled, happy that they managed to find some help in this mess. "Really? With who?" they had her support and she knew that Lucy and Camille were gonna jump onboard to help too. With Logan taken, Camille wasn't gonna rest until the killer was taken down and Lucy always helped her friends when they needed it. And with this help that Carlos found, Kendall, James, and Carlos wouldn't have to go alone.

"That dad we met earlier today… You know… The one I called an ass?" Kendall was slightly embarrassed that he was now calling this guy an asshole after he agreed to help them. He knew that he couldn't be all bad if he agreed to get pulled back into the darkness of the killer's world to help people he didn't even know. Kendall was thinking that he was in it for revenge for the death of his family, and he probably was. Kendall would be the same way if it was him in that position.

"Him?"

Kendall sighed, "Yeah… Him…"

"Is that so much a bad thing? At least you got help." Lucy tried to give him the positive, to which he responded with a shrug of the shoulders.

"Carlos told me that he was put through challenges too, so he has hands on experience with what we're going through right now. To me… that's the best kind of help that we can use right now…"

Carlos' breathing stopped, which in turn made everyone else's stop. Kendall stood up in a jiffy and started running his hands up and down Carlos' chest, looking for any sign of his chest rising and sucking in air. He couldn't find any, which made his eyes moisturize with tears.

Before he could move to do anything else, Lucy shoved him away and placed her lips on Carlos', blowing air into him before pumping his chest. Kendall was so surprised by the sudden action that he just stood a little ways to the left to give Lucy space to do her own thing. She repeated pressing her lips against his before pumping his chest again, and it was a rinse and repeat for ten more seconds before Carlos harshly sucked in some new air. His eyes remained closed the entire time and he didn't say a word.

If Kendall wasn't scared before, he was definitely scared now. Carlos would've died right there had Lucy not given him CPR. If James didn't make it back soon, Carlos was gonna die.

He couldn't handle seeing his friend like this. He fell down to his knees and started taking harsh breaths. He couldn't get the air into his lungs the right way right now. He was too stressed and too scared to do so.

"Are you okay, Kendall?" Camille's concerned voice broke through the silence that had overtaken them. None of them seen Kendall Knight, one really tough guy, this saddened and scared before. They couldn't imagine the stress that he was going through right now. His mom, sister, and best friend were kidnapped; another one of his best friends almost died in front of him and was still dying; and his last best friend might not come back. In a way, Kendall's lost his entire family.

"Do you need anything?" Jo looked to her ex-boyfriend with so much pity and sadness that she wanted to hug him. He didn't want one though, she could tell by how he was brushing away any contact that Lucy was trying to make helping him up. Kendall might've liked to handle things alone, but he never rejected help when he really needed it.

"I want my mommy…" he didn't care about being tough anymore. He's accepted it. He's accepted the truth after watching Carlos almost fade away. He was alone. His family was gone. "I want my sister… I want Logan… I want James… I want Carlos…" he let some tears flow down. "I want my family back!"

It was right there that the girls noticed something. If James didn't come back and Carlos died and they didn't find the rest of his family, this was how Kendall was gonna be like. He was gonna be sad, destroyed, scared, and so much more he didn't deserve. Kendall didn't deserve to have everything taken away from him. He was the last person in the world to deserve that.

The three girls shared a look between them, thinking about what to do. They couldn't give Kendall his family back for him, so they had to think of something else to calm him down or comfort him.

Camille glanced down to the fallen blonde, the scars on his arms giving her a gut punch. He didn't deserve to be scarred physically for life on top of mentally. She turned to her two friends, "I'll stay here with him. You guys can go and get him something to eat. From my guess, he hasn't eaten anything since they found that box hours ago…" While she was worried for Logan and how he was doing right now, Kendall needed to be calmed soon before he completely lost it and broke down. This was just his warm-up before the main event, if she had to guess.

Lucy and Jo nodded before they started their way to the cafeteria. It hurt the two of them to see the boy that they once loved all broken down and crushed like that. They never would've thought in a million years that Kendall Knight would have cried in front of people. They never even thought they would see one tear fall down his face. Guess they were wrong about that.

"I hope James comes back." Jo placed her hands across her heart. "It hurts me to see Kendall that crushed and that sad." She could count the number of times she's seen Kendall upset on one hand. He was always so tough and so strong that it never crossed her mind that he can get sad and hurt. Sometimes it was hard to remember that Kendall was human just like them. Sometimes it was hard to realize that even guys like him had their limits and could only take so much.

"James is gonna come back. That boy is too stubborn and too loyal to lose to someone as the Painter Killer. He doesn't give up for anything. He still pursues me even after I dumped him in the friend-zone." Lucy knew first hand the amount James would do to try and get what he wants. He wanted her to go out with him so he kept trying and still did, and right now he wanted to come home to Kendall and Carlos. He would do anything in his power and reach to get the antidote and save Carlos' life. James would die himself before he let anything happen to his friends.

"He is persistent…" Jo nodded in agreement, remembering how much effort James had put to try and get her to go out with him the first day she moved into the Palm Woods. She found it sweet how he got a needle, something he was afraid of greatly, to look normal so she would notice him after having an allergic reaction to the manspray.

"What do you think Kendall will like to eat?" Lucy asked, looking around for any sign of James running through yelling that he has the antidote. She wanted him back too, not sure how she'll handle the fact that one of her friends was dead. If he died, Carlos died; so that made two. She was more scared of Carlos dying than James for some reason.

"Let's see what they have first before we make any decision. Hospital food isn't exactly the best kind of food in the world." Jo spoke from experience, remembering how crappy the food was back in North Carolina hospitals the week she spent there because of a biking accident.

"You got a point." Lucy nodded in agreement. She stumbled all of a sudden, placing her hand firmly on the wall so she didn't fall down and hurt herself.

Jo stopped when she almost fell. "What the hell just happened?" she asked, not really sure what just happened. One second Lucy was walking and the next she tripped and almost fell flat on her face.

Lucy glanced down to see what exactly she tripped on and nearly fell over in embarrassment after she found out what happened. Her shoelace came untied and she stepped on it and almost fell because of it. She glared at Jo when she heard the giggles start to surface out her mouth, the blonde whistling innocently when she bore her eyes into hers.

"Not… one… word…" she growled dangerously as she started to tie her laces back into a knot, double-knotting it this time to make sure it didn't come undone again.

Jo didn't say anything, but kept the smile on her face as she watched her friend tie her shoe. Jo found it funny how someone as cool and smart as Lucy tripped over her own untied shoelaces. If Camille was here and saw it, the girl would've done the same exact thing. The only difference would've been that Camille wouldn't have hid her laughter like Jo tried to.

As she watched Lucy move the laces around, she could hear what was happening in the room where they were camping out for the moment. The open door didn't do well to hide what was going on in there.

"… The second time that this happened to you…" Jo assumed it was a nurse talking. Silence rolled by before the nurse spoke again. "Are you sure you don't want any eyedrops or something?"

This time she heard another voice. "For what? The lack of eye that I have? I don't think so."

Curiosity taking her over, Jo moved her head to the side so she can glance inside the room. She didn't mean to be spying but she was just naturally curious. She's always been. Inside the room was, indeed, a nurse; a baby car-seat with a little boy in it; a little girl sitting on the hospital bed, using a stethoscope to listen to the heartbeat of the last occupant: A boy with one hand over his right eye. Jo could see the blood flowing down the opening in his hand.

The two continued their conversation. "It might help you. You never know." The nurse was trying to convince the man in front of her to take eyedrops for his problem. Jo saw the man clutching a bloody bandage in his hand.

"I'm fine… I just need my bandage…"

The little girl giggled, "Daddy! I can hear your heart!" she excitedly told the man that Jo could now say was her father, which was weird since she was around three or four and he looked to be around her age.

Her dad smiled. "That's cool, Sweetie." He told her, kissing the top of her head. He turned back to the nurse. "Do you have any clean bandages I can have? This one's been worn out." He handed her the bloody and dirty bandage.

The nurse examined it before she took note of something. "No wonder your eye was bleeding. This bandage has dirt, blood, and bacteria all over it."

"Really? That's why I was bleeding?" she nodded at him, making him laugh darkly. "I rushed my daughter and brother up here at one in the morning just for you to tell me that I need a new bandage?" he laughed some more. "God, I hate my life so much."

'_That's kinda dark to say._' Jo thought as she watched. Lucy was finished tying her shoe and was watching with Jo to see what the big deal was here. Lucy's brain picked something up. Something about this seemed familiar. Did she know him? No. She's never seen him before in her life. Did she know the kids? Once again the answer was no. What was so familiar about this?

The daughter; the baby; and the dad with an injured eye. Once she said it like that, it clicked like a lock and key.

This was the dad Kendall told them about at the picnic, long before Logan walked off and got captured! It had to be. The odds of there being another family like his weren't really that high. There had to be a way to be completely sure though.

The nurse asked the perfect question for her to use, "The Painter Killer did this to you, right? I remember you coming in here a few weeks ago with a young man and woman, saying how you got attacked by him."

Jo picked up on that and was starting to think what Lucy was just thinking about. A dad, a daughter, and the killer was involved with the eye injury? Was this the same guy that Kendall was talking about just a little bit ago?

The boy nodded, strapping on the new bandage the nurse gave him while holding his daughter close to him, the little girl still using the stethoscope to listen to his heartbeat, having lots of fun while doing it. His daughter hasn't been happy since she gotten those autographs from Big Time Rush a couple hours ago. She hasn't even smiled since then. She was smiling now and bringing the killer up would make her sad again if she heard. Thankfully she didn't.

"He did this to me; killed my daughter's mother; and caused the death of my best friend. That guy's nothing but a plague for me and my family. When I find him, and I will, I'm going to make him pay for what he did."

Bingo, it was him. It was the guy Carlos managed to convince to help them. What were the odds on running into him here? The world really was small.

"Evil never wins in the end," the nurse patted his shoulder. "He'll get caught and get locked away for the rest of his life." The boy sighed before shrugging in response, gently taking the stethoscope from his daughter to hand back to the nurse. "I'll be back with some extra bandages for you. Use those when this one gets dirty." He nodded, bending down to pull the infant from the car-seat and held him in his arms like a pro. The nurse turned to the little girl, giving her a smile. "Did you have fun listening to your daddy's heart?"

She nodded enthusiastically. "I wanna be a nurse when I'm bigger!"

"That's good. Being a nurse is a good job." She turned back to the girl's dad. "I'll be back in a few minutes."

Jo and Lucy moved to the wall and acted like they weren't just spying on them. It was easy since the nurse went the other way and didn't even glance in their direction. Now that they weren't gonna interrupt, they could go inside and ask him some questions and introduce themselves. They were gonna meet anyway. Might as well get it over with now.

Lucy knocked on the door, making the one eye of the man jump from the baby to her, narrowing ever so slightly. He was trying to be the tough guy. Lucy knew a bad boy when she saw one and this boy wasn't one at all. He was just putting on a fatigue, probably playing protector since he didn't know who she was. If she didn't see him act just now with his kid and the nurse, she would be a little intimidated at how ice cold his stare was.

"Who are you?" his words were slow and his voice told that he wasn't gonna take any lies. It was fine with her. She and Jo weren't planning on lying to him anyway.

She and her friend walked in, trying their best to look unintimidating and friendly. "It's okay. We come in peace."

"The last guy who told me that had a real rough ending…" he was either lying really well or was telling the truth. They couldn't tell which. "I'll ask again before I get angry. Who. Are. You?" he growled this time, making his daughter shiver at the tone of his voice. It was probably better to talk now instead of testing his patience.

"I'm Lucy and this is Jo." She gestured between her and her friend, who was keeping her friendly fatigue on as best she could. "We're friends with Big Time Rush. Carlos told us about you agreeing to help them with the Painter Killer."

The mention of the boys made him tilt his head in thought before he remembered and shrugged. "I'm guessing you overheard then since you seem to really believe that the guy you're talking about is me." They nodded and he sighed. "Yeah… I did agree to help those guys." He seemed to relax when he saw that they weren't a threat.

"That's really nice of you." Jo complimented, giving a smile to the little girl sitting next to him. "Hi…" she waved. "What's your name?" she loved kids. She always did. In fact, her backup plan in case acting didn't work was to become a teacher.

The girl shyly, but cutely, answered. "Katelyn…" her face buried into her dad's side.

"You're really cute." Jo complimented, getting the girl to smile back at her. It was really weird because she looked like this girl did when she was around her age. She even had her smile. It was really strange in a bizarre way how much they looked alike.

"She takes after her mom…" he seemed to see the resemblance too, since he looked to Jo and back to his daughter twice before he shrugged it off; apparently just finding it a coincidence. "Why are you guys here talking to me?"

Carlos flashed through their heads, recreating the fear and sadness that they've nearly forgotten about.

"Carlos got shot with poison... It was his challenge…" Lucy explained. "We had to rush to get here."

"Shot with poison?" he asked. She nodded. "He said something about his friend crawling on glass before..." he paused to think. "Did someone by any chance have cuts on their body?"

They remembered James flashing Kendall the cuts before he left. They nodded again.

"I assume someone isn't here right now?" Lucy answered his question with another nod. "Then that settles it… your friend that's not here is getting the antidote and is probably gonna not come back…"

Lucy and Jo were baffled. Why would he say that?

"The catch to getting the antidote is the fact that there are rabid and rabie-infested dogs wherever he is. Getting out of there isn't gonna be easy, if possible at all. My ex-friend was the only one who's done it."

"Where is he now?" Jo asked, thinking that they can use more help. The more the merrier.

"Dead." So much for that question. "I seen the four of those boys and they don't look like they got what it takes to do what has to be done." He was serious as he spoke, not bothering to sugar-coat anything. "I'm sorry to hear that your friend is dying." He actually did sound sincere.

"If it isn't too much trouble, can you come back and help us?"

"With what?"

"Kendall is having a breakdown because he feels like his family is gone. Maybe if he speaks to someone who knows what he's going through, he may come back around." Jo was underestimating the generosity and kindness in this man. It was like she thought she knew what kind of person he was just from talking for five minutes.

"I agreed to help with the challenges, not to play babysitter and act as a counselor to them. If Kendall can't handle the situation, then he isn't gonna make it far in these challenges." He placed the baby back in the car-seat.

"Can you at least-"

"No…" he left no room for argument, getting tired of where this conversation was going. "I'm already giving them my time for one thing, I'm not gonna solve all their problems. Let him cry like a baby just because his family's kidnapped. Boo-fuckin'-hoo. Once he does the second row, he'll earn my respect; but until then, he isn't my concern."

Lucy and Jo figured that the second row or whatever must be bad if this guy would give Kendall respect for doing it.

"Why did you agree to help if you aren't even gonna be helpful?" Jo was kinda mad at how he just insulted Kendall for acting like a baby. He had every right to act like one. His family was taken from him and his friends might die. He deserved some slack.

"Revenge… plain and simple revenge… I want this killer dead and your friends gave me another chance… that's it." It got quiet after that, Jo and Lucy not sure what to say now and were just thinking of leaving.

His daughter looked up to Lucy. "Your hair is really cool." She was pointing to Lucy's red highlights, liking the color a lot.

"Thank you, Sweetie." She smiled at her, not being able to resist that face.

"Can I see Carlos?" her dad sighed in aggravation. "He was nice to me today and I wanna say thank you." Kate here had really good manners, unlike her dad apparently; who was only mad and cranky.

"Ummm…" Jo and Lucy weren't sure if they should allow her to see the dying Carlos, not sure how the girl was gonna react. When Kate lowered her head after assuming the answer was no, they couldn't give her that answer. "Okay…" she looked back up with a smile. "Ask your daddy."

Kate turned to her dad, "Can I, Daddy? Can I?"

He couldn't say no to his daughter, but didn't want her to see a dying boy. The look of excitement on her face tore at him, loving to see her like that after all these weeks of nothing but pain and misery. He would take her out when Carlos' time almost expired. He nodded, a cheer of excitement from the girl filling his ears; making him smile. He loved hearing and seeing his daughter so happy. It made him happy.

Jo grabbed Kate's hand, "Come on, Baby. He's this way." She still felt bad about taking her to Carlos in the condition he was in, but figured it wasn't her choice. If her dad said it was fine, then it was fine. She could just lie and say Carlos was sleeping if it came to it.

The five of them headed back to where Camille and Kendall were, hoping and now praying that James proved this man wrong and got back before Carlos died.

"What's your name?" Lucy asked the man as he carried the baby in the car-seat. He looked at her in confusion. "You didn't tell us your name."

"I have that problem." He admitted. "My name is Frankie. The baby here is Nathan and my daughter there, as you already know, is Katelyn."

"That's good to know. We're gonna be around each other for two weeks."

He sarcastically cheered. "Yay for me…"

…

James hated the killer even more.

He was in an abandoned high school now and was following the arrows left behind to where the killer had the antidote waiting for him. Sounded easy enough, right? Wrong. There were crazy dogs everywhere. He had to shoot one when it tried to bite him and was now sneaking away before the rest came running to where the noise was.

Everything just had to be a challenge with this guy.

Stepping into the outside again, following the arrows after his escape, James made it to an auditorium. The school seemed to have been nice back in the day when it was still opened. James slowly moved down the stairs to where the stage at the bottom was, following arrow after arrow to where he needed to go.

What he wasn't expecting was to find a man in a cage holding a small tube.

"Who are you? Why are you here?" James ignored him as he saw the arrow point to the cage, confirming that the tube the man was holding was the thing that he needed. Just great. Life just couldn't stop being difficult.

"I need that tube…" he had his hand extended. "I'll get you out and you can come with me… All I need is that tube to save my friend…" James couldn't let someone get stuck here with the killer if he had the chance to get him out. No one deserves to be stuck here with him and under his captivity.

"You got it! It's a deal! I'm Otis."

"James…"

And when James unlocked the door with the keys that were placed on a table behind him, the alarm went off and the sound of barking animals filled his and Otis' ears. He snatched the tube from him.

"Come on let's go!"

And James and Otis were in for the run of their lives.

End of Chapter 8 of Heavy Blood

James seems to be in a pickle.

The end of this chapter is kinda rushed in my opinion. I don't really like the ending of the Frankie/Jo/Lucy scene or the James/Otis meet-up. Next chapter will be a lot better though, as James does something that'll shock all of you. I'm gonna have fun with it.

More focus will be put on the James/Otis with an occasional shift to Kendall and the rest. So expect to jump around a little bit.

We'll see Logan, Katie, and Mama Knight in two chapters.

Next Time: Down to my Last


	9. Down to My Last

Disclaimer: Don't own Big Time Rush

AN: **Now we enter the big moment that I've been bragging about for a long time now. James does something horrific here that I'm sure you'll all be shocked to see but will still enjoy in a weird and messed up way.**

**And also, I forgot to ask this many times, but who do you think the killer is? I'm actually surprised that no one's taken a guess yet. So I'm hoping that my readers will take a moment to guess. I'll give you a hint… it's someone you won't expect.**

**Thank you for your time and support for this story, which passed 2,000 hits.**

**Enjoy**

Chapter 9- Down to my Last

James' footsteps echoed in the hallway of the school as he ran as fast as he could. His companion, Otis, ran behind him, lagging ever so slightly. James could hear the barks of the dogs chasing them getting closer and closer, his heartbeat rising on the fear of getting caught and ripped to shreds.

He took fast and uneasy breaths as he tried to think of a way to escape. He didn't know this area really well, if at all, and his companion here wasn't familiar with the school either, having been locked up too long to really remember where anything was. James wasn't limited to following arrows anymore since he already had the tube with the antidote that was needed to save Carlos' life.

The two men started hauling up the stairs back to the front of the school where James had left the car. The barking had gotten louder, signaling that the dogs were right behind them and would catch them if they slowed down. James was debating using the last four bullets that he had in his gun to try and even out the odds, but one look back and seeing that there were way more than four dogs told him that he better save those bullets for when necessary.

"This way!" he yelled to Otis, who was having a hard time keeping up with James. It had to be because he was locked up for a long while. The killer had taken him off the streets and kept him locked up for weeks, only stopping by occasionally to give him small doses of food and water. Otis was weakened and was running out of what little energy that he had left, but James wouldn't leave him behind.

James Diamond left no man behind.

James and Otis rounded the side of the building, where a dog was camping out and seemingly waiting for them. The dog snarled and lunged to take a bite out of James, but the boy used his small gun that he had with him to whip the dog, a whine escaping the animal's lips as it fell to the ground. James was normally pro-animal, but that was only to the ones that weren't trying to kill him.

He and Otis continued running to the car, which was in James' sights, a grin stretching its way onto his face. Just a little more running and he and Otis would be on their way out of this hell and would be heading back to where his friends were and Carlos would be saved. James couldn't wait to hand the antidote to the doctors and have them save Carlos' life. He would make up for his mistake of letting the boy get hurt in the first place.

James' grin died down when an army of a dozen crazy dogs started running to them from that direction.

He smacked Otis' shoulder to get him to turn around. "Go back! Go back!" he frantically shouted, both of them now heading back to the school to try and take some refuge inside; hoping to think of an escape plan once they had a second to catch their breath.

James and Otis didn't know how they were gonna outrun an army of dogs without one of them getting bit. James might've not known a lot about diseases, but he did know that if you got bit by an animal with rabies and didn't get a rabie-shot, you were gonna die. If they got bit, they weren't gonna be able to get out of here to even get to a hospital to get the shot. They needed to think of something before one of them fell down.

James and Otis ran as fast as their legs would allow them despite the lack of energy that they now had after running for a little bit without a break. James stumbled slightly when he saw more dogs coming to them. Just how many dogs did this killer have and sent to him? He really didn't want James to succeed and get out of here, it seemed. But James would get out of here if it was the last thing he did. Carlos' life was literally in his hands right now and he needed to give it to him before the boy slipped away.

Time was running out and James needed to hurry before the last sands in the hourglass fell down.

James found a side-entrance to the school, thanking the good lord that things were finally looking up. He and Otis sidestepped some of the dogs so James could get close enough to the door to open it. When he grabbed the handle and pulled on it, he realized that it was locked. He and Otis paled. Now what the hell were they gonna do?

"We're dead… We're dead…" Otis repeated as the dogs started getting closer.

James shook his head frantically, refusing to accept defeat so easily. He realized that the doors were made of glass and got an idea. He pulled Otis away and shot out one of the doors, the sounds of shattering glass filling their ears as he shoved Otis forward inside the now-opened door and followed suit. The only problem was that they couldn't just shut the door now.

Otis saw a gate that was used to lock the school down after hours. He elbowed James to get him to look, to which the boy grinned and nodded at Otis. They both grabbed the gate and started pulling it to the side, shutting the dogs away from them and the door. The dogs started beating against the gate, trying to get their mouths through so they can get to the two men.

James and Otis slumped against the wall, finally having time to try and catch their breath. James turned to his companion, "Still wish you were back in that cage?" he playfully asked, elbowing him lightly to get a laugh from the older man.

"Hell no! Running away from these dogs isn't that bad." He admitted, wishing that there was something to eat around here, his stomach starting to growl for the need to eat. He could use a drink too. Being a prisoner wasn't that fun to begin with. You couldn't get what you wanted when you wanted it.

James laughed, which turned uneasy as he watched the dogs try to get through to eat them. Even if they were behind the gate, it still sent shivers up his spine when he watched these ferocious animals try so hard to get him. He rechecked the ammo of his gun, seeing that there were three bullets left. Nowhere near enough in his opinion, but he had to work with what he had. At least he can think of a plan now.

"These animals just don't quit…" James was dumbfounded at how angry and furious animals could be, especially dogs. They really wanted him and his companion here dead. He might've been afraid of them right now, but they couldn't break in right now. Having this moment to catch his breath was really good.

Otis nodded his agreement at the young man beside him. "Rabies does that to an animal. It riles them up and makes them do crazy things…" The barking that took place a few feet away from them was making him tenser. Pretty soon and they'll find a way in and the chase will resume. After not being fed well for weeks, Otis wasn't exactly looking forward to having to run again.

"Crazy like trying to attack and eat us?" James sarcastically asked, his eyes roaming across the small pack of a dozen animals, a chuckle escaping through his lips. These dogs were squeezing against any and all spaces they could find to try and get in to where he and Otis were situated. Like Otis, James figured it was only a matter of time before they found a way in and the chase resumed between them.

His eyes fell down to the vial in Otis' hands. That vial is what was needed to save Carlos' life. James needed to get out of here and get it to his friend before it was too late… If it wasn't too late already. He found himself shaking his head at that. Carlos was still alive now and he would survive this. All James had to do was make it back to the hospital. He could do that. He's done a lot harder things before in his life.

Otis' amused chuckle brought him back to reality. "Yeah… Crazy like that…" he liked this kid. James seemed like a good kid. He did free him from his imprisonment and was now working with him to try and escape. He could just leave him behind and save himself, but didn't. He definitely felt James' finding of him was like a miracle.

"If you don't mind me asking…" James gave the attention that he had on the gate to Otis. "Why are you here? Now don't get me wrong; I'm glad that you came. I would be stuck in that cage still…" Otis gave James a smile of gratitude. "I'm just curious as to why you came here in the first place."

James didn't see the problem in telling Otis why he came here. The guy seemed nice enough and wasn't a threat. If anything, James could take him in a fight if they were to throw down. Plus, he did figure that the guy could use an explanation as to why his savior was here. Seeing a seventeen-year-old at an abandoned high school wasn't exactly something that you saw everyday. James would be curious too if he was in the man's shoes.

James kept the gun in his hands, staring at the dogs as he told his story. "My family was kidnapped by The Painter Killer…" He heard Otis gasp at the reveal. James himself was still finding it hard to swallow and accept. "Me and my friends are doing everything we can to find them. My best friend was shot with poison," Carlos' prone body flashed through his eyes, tears welding up in his eyes as he remembered why he was here. "I came here to get the antidote…" James looked to the vial in Otis' hands, a part of him wanting to reach and grab it away from the man. James needed both of his hands to shoot the gun and kill the dogs so he had handed it back to the man when they started running. He couldn't take it back now until they were completely safe. Right now, it was like they were in a game and it was on pause and they were just waiting until they were ready to continue.

Otis was in shock as he heard James tell his story. A teenager and his friends were being forced to endure hardship just so they can try and find their family. Otis knew the killer was sick, but to force kids to do shit like this was just inhumane. His hand clutched the vial that he had in his hands.

"When we get out of here, we'll help your friend…" Otis promised. James already had his family taken from him by this killer. The last thing he deserved was to lose his friend too. If this antidote held the key to saving his friend's life, Otis would help him make sure that somehow, it would make it out of here and to the poisoned kid.

James gave the man beside him a nod, a grateful smile on his face. He could tell that Otis here was a good man and this only proved it. He also wanted to help James get back to save Carlos' life. Otis didn't even know Carlos. James was grateful that the man next to him was willing to help him save his friend's life. At least now he didn't have to go ahead and do this alone.

James just remembered something. On top of this being a mission to save Carlos' life; this was supposed to be a challenge. With the three challenges that were already said and done, they each received a piece of paper that had a part of the location where their family was at. So far, James didn't find that. Was it somewhere in the school? If it was he was screwed. He couldn't find the paper while trying to escape from dogs. He had to get out of here and save Carlos. They had to miss this one paper.

James just hoped to God that they could succeed without it, or that Frankie had a copy of the paper from when he was dealing with all this for the first time.

Growling made them jump as one of the dogs almost squeezed all the way through. James and Otis saw the gate was rusted and starting to fall apart. The dogs were now filing against the side of the gate and were starting to crawl their way in, snarling and chomping in the direction of James and Otis.

"Fuck! Run!" James pulled Otis up and the two started their run again. James kicked the door open and they started sprinting inside of the school. The sounds of barking and growling grew fainter as they ran farther. That break they took gave James back some energy, not being as tired as he once was before. He could see that Otis was still as exhausted as he was when James found him. Maybe he was even slower than before. That break didn't do anything for him unlike James.

James rounded a corner, Otis following his every step. James started grabbing doorknobs and trying to find some place for them to hide and sneak out of. James cursed his luck when the doors he tried were all luck. Maybe with some time he could find a way to get one of them open, but the barking was getting loud again, signaling the impending return of the rabie dogs. They had to keep running. With three bullets and a dozen dogs, shooting wasn't the best option right now.

James could already feel the energy he got back leave him as he found it hard to catch his breath. With all the running and all the fear that he had in him, James wouldn't be surprised if his lungs eventually collapsed from the pressure he was putting on them. He couldn't slow down now. If he slowed down he was dead. If he and Otis took one wrong step, they were gonna get eaten alive.

Speaking of Otis, the large man behind him slipped on the cold floor below them and fell down onto his side. James turned as quickly as his legs would let him and sprinted back to help the man up. Even if he was kinda slowing him down, James wouldn't leave him behind. The vial to save Carlos' life was in the man's hands and James would be damned if he lost it.

"Get up!" James barked out as loud and as enforced as he could, yanking Otis up with some unnecessary force. James thought he could hear the bone in the man's shoulder crack as he landed back up on his feet.

James' eyes caught a set of double doors and he and Otis started running to them. The dogs barking and growling behind them, James pushed the doors open as he and his companion rushed into the gym of the school. With nowhere else to run, James started climbing up the bleachers, it being the only safe place where the dogs couldn't reach them if they tried. He rolled on his stomach and held a hand out and down for Otis to grab.

"Jump! I got ya!" James promised.

Otis nodded and braced himself for a jump. He bent his knees and jumped, his hand grabbing and wrapping around James'. He was probably a little too late as a dog jumped and sank its teeth into the ankle of the large man. Otis let out a scream of pain as the teeth of the rabie dog started tearing a chunk of his flesh off.

James cursed as he adjusted the notch of the gun down towards the dog's eye. He fired one shot, now down to two, as the dog fell off of Otis, allowing for James to pull him all the way up to the top of the bleachers. The rest of the dogs were barking below them and trying to jump up to them, being unsuccessful each and every time. At least James and Otis caught themselves a break again.

Only this time Otis had his ankle chomped on by a dog.

"Jesus…" James whispered in shock and disgust as blood oozed down the calf muscle of Otis. James wasn't expecting for this to happen. If he would've known that Otis would get bit, he would've moved faster and pulled the man up faster. James knew what being bit by a rabie-infested animal does to you. If you didn't get a rabie shot as fast as possible, you'll get rabies and likely die from it. Now they needed to get back to the hospital faster. Two lives were at stake now.

Otis gave James an easygoing smile, "I'm fine… Just a scratch…"

"A _**scratch**_?! You got bit by a dog! That's nowhere near a scratch!" James was in disbelief over Otis' easiness about getting chomped on by a disease-infested animal. That reminded him of Kendall just a slight bit.

Otis shrugged, using the wall behind them as support to stand up. "Don't worry about me… Just focus on getting out of here… I can still walk and run if I have to…"

James didn't have time for arguments right now. The clock just sped up and now he needed to move faster. There wasn't time for a break. He looked down to see the dogs now slowly losing interest in them. Some were still encircling them, but most were walking away back towards the entrance they used to get here in the first place. They still couldn't take the four animals down below, but it was easier to handle then a dozen. He caught sight of a stairwell that led downward, possibly towards the basement or a locker room. Then he caught sight of windows. He beamed, an idea forming in his head.

"Do you know what's on the other side of that window?" he asked, pointing his index finger towards the square glass that led outside; moonlight now creeping its way inside the gymnasium.

"About a twenty foot drop… Nothing to catch you except some bushes…" Otis guessed as he felt a new wave of pain enter from his ankle. It stung like a bitch, but he could handle it. Once he was out of here with James, he can rest all he wanted to.

James knew how much the fall was gonna hurt, but he could stomach it if it meant not getting chewed on by dogs. A glance between the window and his companion told him a harsh and bitter truth:

Otis was too big to fit through the window, both men realized. Just another problem they didn't need added to the long list.

"You can't- "

Otis cut him off with a hand, "Yeah… I know. But it doesn't matter. Even if I could fit, the dogs will rip us apart before we could get close." He nodded his head down to the stairwell. "I'll go down those stairs, find another way out, and meet you on the other side."

"Your ankle though…" James was quick to remind Otis of his little problem, glancing down to the bloody and swollen limb.

"I have to suck it up for now. Once we get out of here, I'll have all the time in the world to complain about my pain." He laughed lightly, clapping James on his shoulder before he nodded at him. "See ya on the other side, man. You're a good kid." Before James could respond, Otis scampered down the bleachers, landing on his bad ankle as he fell to the ground. The dogs growled as Otis started pulling himself up and limping over to the stairs. It was then James noticed that they weren't running after the man. They were walking slowly, eyeing him like prey. At least Otis had more time to get away if they weren't chasing him.

As James scurried down on the other side, he failed to notice two things. One, one of the dogs stopped walking after Otis and settled its attention onto him and Secondly…

Otis still had the vial with the antidote.

James jogged up the stairs where the windows were, coming face to face with the window. He placed his gun down so he can open the window. As his hands encircled the bottom of the glass square, he pulled up as fast and as hard as he could. It wouldn't budge. It was like it was bolted down from the outside.

James picked his gun back up, needing a new idea and fast. He needed to find a way to bust the window without wasting another bullet in his chamber. He only had two left. He needed to save them for a real emergency. This window was more of an issue and less of a real problem. Looking to the gun and back to the window, James smirked before he winded his arm back and closed his eyes before he swung towards the glass.

The sound of shattering glass echoed in the quiet gymnasium as James covered his face from the shards of glass that fell to the floor and outside towards the ground. Just looking at these shards of glass reminded the boy about the events that his blonde friend went through not even a couple hours ago. Thinking of Kendall had James thinking about Carlos, who was till waiting for him to save his life. James would make up for his mistake and save Carlos' life. He would. He wouldn't fail here.

He dangled his legs outside of the window, the fear of falling now kicking in as he looked down. Just like Otis said, it was at least a twenty foot fall. James could tell that if he landed the wrong way, he was gonna receive a nasty injury. He might break his ankle if he didn't time this just right. He composed himself as he took steady breaths, preparing himself for the fall that was about to happen.

Just as he was about to jump, a bark that was too close to his ears startled him and sent him jumping out the window in shock. James' heart beat against his chest faster than his body was falling down the twenty feet. Before he even had time to utter out a curse or a scream, he landed on the ground in a very uncomfortable way.

His foot slammed into the ground below him, making him roll over twice from the impact. James was breathing unevenly and very fast right now, trying to control his pain while he worked to get his heartbeat under control. His ankle was burning with a sensation of torment and pain. If it wasn't broken, it was sprained or swollen at the least. His hand wrapped around his gun in an attempt to release some of the pain he was feeling while he worked his way up, almost falling over from the way his ankle burned as he put pressure on it.

He limped away as fast as he could to where he had parked the car when he first arrived. He needed to find Otis before he left and get the vial and the man back to the hospital to save his and Carlos' life. As he felt his ankle scream in misery, James thought of a positive to make himself feel better.

At least he didn't get bit like Otis.

…

Kendall sat in a folded position on the floor in Carlos' hospital with Camille, his head buried in his legs as Camille kneeled down next to him rubbing circles on his back in an attempt to calm him. Kendall had stopped it with the crying after he realized how weak he looked because of it. He didn't know what his friends thought, but he didn't want to appear to be weak… He couldn't be weak… Not with Carlos lying there dying next to him.

Camille rubbing her hands on his back wasn't helping his attitude either.

Kendall shook his shoulders to send a silent message to Camille to get her to stop. He appreciated her concern for him and her attempt to make him feel better, knowing how she must be feeling right now because of Logan being gone, but he didn't want to seem weak and in need when he was supposed to be tough. He needed to remain on his guard and in leader mode so he can find his family and bring Logan back to her. Those two were honestly the only couple Kendall ever seen that were truly in love and would be together forever. He had thought that many times with his mother and father, him and Jo, him and Lucy, and many more. To see Camille put her sorrow aside to help him really did help uplift his spirits. She would be a great sister-in-law when they found Logan and they got married.

Camille retracted her hand from Kendall when he shook his back, respecting his choice to not want to be comforted. She still thought he should suck it up and accept the comfort that he desperately needed. He had every reason to be upset and angry now and he was choosing to deal with it alone and holding it in. Camille could figure out that he stopped crying when he realized how he thought he must've looked because of it. If he didn't want to accept her help, she couldn't force him to take it. She just hoped that he would see that he couldn't handle it alone and would accept emotional help. But, since it was Kendall Knight she was thinking about, it probably won't happen.

"I'm sorry…" Kendall's voice was muffled from the way he was sitting with his head in his legs. Camille looked in confusion at Kendall's bowed head. What does he have to be sorry for? If anything, she should be telling him sorry because of all the pain that he was going through. She was sorry that she couldn't take it away from him or James. She was also sorry she couldn't just snap her fingers and make Carlos healthy again.

"What for?" she just had to ask. Getting an apology from Kendall wasn't something many people can say that they had received. Kendall always stuck to his opinion and worked to get others to believe him and take his side. He never lost a battle where he had to apologize to someone. Camille honestly thought that she might be the first one to get a 'sorry' from Kendall.

"For letting Logan get taken. I know how much you two love each other and knowing that he's gone must suck for you as much as it does for me… Maybe more…" To think, just a few hours ago, she and Logan were holding hands and one another like any other day of the week. That seemed like so long ago now that she knew what happened to him. And it hurt knowing that they may never hold one another like that again.

Kendall, James, and Carlos might all be tough; but they were trying to accomplish something that hasn't been done ever. Camille would keep her faith in them, but a small piece of her accepted the fact that Logan was gone and wasn't coming back.

She felt tears come back up.

"I'm gonna get him back. Once James comes back with the antidote and Carlos is saved, we're gonna get back on track and continue the search." Kendall had raised his head from the position in his folded legs and stared back at Camille. He looked a lot better than most people would be after crying. There weren't any signs of him ever had crying in the first place. No puffy eyes; no shaky voice; no stained face with tears. Camille wouldn't have known if she hadn't seen it happen with her own two eyes.

She watched from her kneeled spot on the floor as Kendall stood up and walked over to where Carlos was lying on the bed. Kendall dug his fingers into the strands of hair of the poisoned boy, which looked to be almost completely lifeless. Carlos was too pale now for words description. If it wasn't for the very slight rise in his chest, he would appear to be dead.

James' timer was almost up. He had maybe another hour before Carlos died, and that was just a generous guess.

"After this poison thing is settled," Camille didn't want to crush Kendall by stating to him the possibility of him losing one or both of his friends tonight. He already accepted the possibility and didn't need to hear it again from her. "You need to rest. You've been pushing yourself to do too much tonight. First you crawl on glass, then James goes off and gets cuts on his chest, and Carlos got shot with poison. Also, James is out there getting an antidote. That's enough for one night, don't you think?"

Kendall turned his head towards Camille, giving her eye-contact while he spoke. "We can't waste time. Every second that passes by is another second that I can be using to find my family." Kendall swore when this started only a few short hours ago, that he wasn't gonna stop until everything was done. If that meant he lost sleep, then he would lose sleep. He didn't care. All he cared about was trying to save his family.

Camille frowned at his stubbornness, not seeing it coming because of his actions a few short minutes ago with all the crying. "You can't exhaust yourself because of this. You won't be able to find Logan and your family if you're tired and exhausted." She would hate to see Kendall all angry and sad while he was in a state of exhaustion. That would be his breaking point and the point of no return for him and she would do everything she could to prevent him from falling to that point.

"I won't find them by sitting around doing nothing!" Kendall was obviously becoming increasingly annoyed by Camille trying to feed him the truth of the matter. He knew that if he was tired that it would be more difficult to find his family, but if he moved fast enough; he wouldn't need to rest and he would find them before the exhaustion kicked in. He seemed to have forgotten that just a little bit ago; he was bleeding out from the glass shards and was unconscious. It was like he accepted the small brush with death as his form of rest.

"You're not not doing nothing. You're just resting so you can be at top-shape for later." Camille did her best to try and talk to Kendall, having stood up and was now staring him down. Kendall scoffed slightly as he turned away from her, going back to stare at Carlos.

"I'm fine now. I'm going back out when James gets back and nothing you say can stop me." That was a lie. There was one thing that she could say and she knew he wasn't gonna like it. He might get mad at her; he might get furious even; but she couldn't have him leaving again. He needed to calm down and rest. He would destroy himself if he didn't.

"If you leave and if Carlos dies while you're gone, you'll never forgive yourself for that."

Kendall's breathing stopped for just a moment before he started up again. He wasn't sure if that was a low blow or not, but it was true. If he did leave and James didn't return in time and Carlos died, he would never forgive himself for it. He'll never be able to forget that his friend was dying and needed him more than ever and he just left. Even if he left after James came back or not, it would seem like Carlos didn't matter enough to him if he just left soon after. If this happened, he would hate himself. He was grateful that Camille brought it up before he did something stupid.

Kendall didn't know what to say back to the girl, so he settled for a head bow instead. Camille was happy that she seemed to get through to him just a little bit. At least now he won't be leaving here anytime soon to do something stupid.

The sound of the door opening back up made the two teens turn their heads. Lucy and Jo walked back in, but there were three more people with them that they weren't expecting; three people Kendall recognized at the drop of a hat. His eyes met the one from the man that he now knew was Frankie Wilson. The tension was clear between them two. The last time they seen each other, Kendall and him had argued with the other and called each other names. They were waiting for the other to say something.

Kendall really couldn't say anything mean or hurtful while Frankie held a baby seat in his hand, not that he was going to in the first place. He was curious as to why he was here and how he knew about what was happening right now. The last time that he had been in contact with anyone of them was with Carlos and the boy was up and about at that point and only Kendall had a challenge completed. Since he walked in with Jo and Lucy, he figured the two of them figured out who he was and briefed him in on what was going on now.

Before he could say something, which was gonna be 'thank you' for agreeing to help, he spoke first, resting his back against the wall after setting the seat down.

"Glad you're not crying like a baby. Not sure how much of that I could handle from a grown man."

Kendall looked to Jo and Lucy to try and figure out who told him about him crying and the finger Lucy was pointing to Jo, who was talking with Frankie's daughter Katelyn, told him everything.

Kendall laughed at him, "Nice to see you too, sunshine." He smirked when Frankie frowned at him, not finding the nickname cute or amusing in the slightest. Now that he knew how Frankie really was from Carlos, his asshole like demeanor was easier to stomach and handle. Kendall could have some fun with it.

Camille's eyes landed on the baby in the seat and erupted into an array of squeals. "He's so cute!" she scampered over to where Frankie had settled the baby by his feet. Kendall was sure he was the only one who saw how Frankie had his hand hovering over his right pocket, a look of concentration fixated on Camille as she got closer to his brother. Kendall didn't like the way he looked and really didn't want to know what he was hiding, but he also kinda wanted to know at the same time out of curiosity.

Jo nodded in agreement, turning from talking with Katelyn to look at the baby that was in the seat. "He is," she looked up to the one-eyed father, who had his hand hovering over his pocket for some reason. "You have cute kids." She complimented him on how Nate and Katelyn looked.

"Katelyn is my only child." Frankie corrected, his hand now digging into his pocket, wrapping his finger around the trigger of the gun inside. He didn't trust these people at all when it came to his family. He could care less how they were around him, but after what happened with Isaiah, who was supposed to be his best friend… He didn't trust anyone when it involved his family. It hadn't ended well between him and Isaiah and that paved the way for how he acts now when he was in protector mode for his daughter and brother.

The distant sound of a gunshot and crying rang in his ears.

"The baby's his brother." Kendall remembered Frankie correcting Logan earlier in the day about how the baby was his brother after Logan had made the same mistake in thinking that the baby was his son.

"I'm surprised you remembered." Frankie was honestly surprised that this guy had taken the effort to remember something that was just casually tossed between him and his friend. He figured all famous people were the same. He figured they were all stuck-up and only cared about themselves and money. Kendall definitely kinda proved him wrong, but not much. Just because he remembered one sentence he said didn't make them friends.

Kendall shrugged, still feeling a little bit uneasy about how Frankie's hand didn't seem to leave his pocket. What ever it was that was in there must really be something special if he just didn't want to let it go. He caught his eye and saw a small glimpse of what was hidden inside of him; all the emotions in the man's eye being very obvious if one looked.

He saw pain; he saw regret; he saw sorrow; he saw fear; he saw love. There was just about a little bit of everything in his one eye that gave way to what was inside Frankie Wilson. This man in front of him had apparently gone through a lot, if the way he was always angry was any indication. He reminded Kendall of… well… him when he was angry. The only difference was that Kendall was a little bit nicer than Frankie was when he was mad.

Now that Kendall thought about it, Frankie had every reason to be mad. His family had just died and he was left alone with a daughter and a little brother to fend for. He lost his eye because of the killer on top of that. If he wasn't angry, Kendall would say that there was something wrong with him. Maybe it wasn't right to judge him for the way he was acting. He still thought he was an ass, but he had a reason to be an ass.

"Can I hold him?"

Camille's question made Frankie dart his one eye over from Kendall to the girl looking down at his little brother. He controlled his urge to just get up and leave, his daughter still not having said hi to Carlos yet, wherever he was. No one held his family except him. The only other person he had trusted with his family was Isaiah and look at what he did to him. He betrayed him and almost got him killed. If you couldn't trust your best friend, you couldn't trust strangers at all.

"No… No one touches him…" his voice came out angry and defensive, not caring how everyone was staring at him like if he had grown a second head. They wouldn't be looking at him like that if they knew the truth. He wasn't gonna tell them the truth. They didn't deserve to know.

"But he's so cute," Jo came to the defense of her friend, smiling brightly at the infant in the baby seat.

"He and my daughter are off-limits to hold. I already told this to your friend, I only need someone to _**watch **_them to make sure they don't hurt themselves. I don't want anyone touching or holding them for any reason." He challenged anyone to question him and his decision. It might've not made sense the way he was saying it, but he didn't want anyone to hold them. That privilege was for family and family only and they weren't family. They were just strangers he was forced to deal with for two weeks; nothing more and nothing less.

"Attitude, much?" Jo didn't know why Frankie had to go overboard with the whole protective instinct. She understood that his family died and that he didn't want his daughter and little brother to get hurt, but there was nothing to be afraid of here. All Camille wanted to do was hold the baby and Jo wanted to have a turn too. Nate was just too cute and adorable.

Frankie shrugged at Jo, not really caring what she thought about his attitude. His eye landed on how his daughter, who was quiet the whole time, seemed to sit close to Jo. Their legs were brushing against each other, Katelyn had her head resting in Jo's side, and she had a smile on her tired face. Now that he looked, he saw that they were wearing matching purple pajamas. Katelyn's jacket covered her 'Daddy's Little Princess' shirt, but her purple shorts matched Jo's purple pants. She looked so comfortable sitting next to a stranger. She was always frightened with people that she didn't like or trust, staying close to him when she felt threatened. But now here she was sitting close to someone that she didn't know well and was even snuggling into her. Why was his little girl, his little princess, snuggling into a stranger?

'Oh shit…' he glanced over to Jo and compared her face to Katelyn's mom's face. They looked almost identical. They could've been twins. Katelyn must think that Jo is her mom. 'Oh man,' he groaned to himself. 'Please don't call her mom.' He was begging to his sleepy daughter silently to not slip up and call this girl that they didn't know mom. Before he could tell his daughter to come to him, a new voice spoke, one that sounded weak and familiar.

"He's actually a softie…"

All heads turned to the bed where the voice came from. Carlos had his head turned towards them with a weak smile on his pale face. His breathing was slow and he seemed to be in pain as he did it. The poison must be taking a larger toll on him then they thought. He didn't look so good.

Kendall immediately jumped to attention and rushed over to his bed-ridden friend. "Carlos! Are you okay?" Kendall knew his question was stupid, but he needed to ask him something. He needed to hear Carlos to make sure that the boy was still alive. Beside the fact that his eyes were open, albeit only a little bit, he had the appearance of a dead man.

Carlos gave the best grin that he could, which was only a little bit bigger than his normal smile. "I passed my test. I got us another piece."

"Yes… Yes you did…" Kendall was doing his best to hold in his tears, which was hard for him due to his dying friend looking up at him like if there was nothing wrong with him. Carlos must feel horrible on the inside and must feel like he was being ripped apart, but he still kept a smile on his face even while dying. "You're gonna be okay… James is gonna save you." He promised.

Carlos was confused, looking around and noticing the absence of his other friend. "Where is he?"

"He's getting the antidote. He'll be back soon." Kendall was trying to convince both Carlos and himself of that matter. Kendall's hope that James would make it back was slowly dying along with Carlos, making him feel guiltier about what was happening. First he felt that Carlos getting poisoned was his fault and now he was losing faith in James. He was a horrible friend.

Katelyn jumped up from her spot on the floor next to Jo and rushed to see Carlos. For such a young girl, she had a lot of energy for it being two in the morning. "Hi Carlos!" she gave him a cute smile, which was enough to make almost everyone in the room smile. The only one who didn't, or couldn't, was Kendall. He was too worried about if Carlos dropped dead before James came back.

Where the hell was he anyway? He should've been long back by now. The fear of something having had happened to him worked its way up into Kendall's chest. If he lost James, then that meant he lost Carlos too. He could feel himself about to break down again.

"Hey, Kate. Nice to see you again." Carlos was confused as to why Katelyn was here, but he welcomed it. He liked the little girl. She was really adorable and bright for a kid that lost almost everything in her life.

"I wanna say thank you."

"Why?"

"You were nice to me."

Jo turned to look at Lucy, "She is so cute." She missed how Frankie eyed her when she said that before he turned to look back at his daughter and Carlos. "And so polite too… Unlike her daddy."

Frankie turned to glare at her, which still looked terrifying even with only one eye. Who the hell was she to tell him that he was impolite? Someone who wasn't impolite wouldn't throw himself back into the fray to help a family find a serial killer… even though he was only in it for revenge for the deaths of almost everyone that he loved. His mom, his dad, his sister, his daughter's mother, and his best friend… even though that last one was mostly his own fault and not the killer's. It was still because of the challenges that he ended up making his own death.

"He's actually nice, Jo." Carlos defended the single parent, making all eyes focus on him again and not Katelyn's adorable thanks to him. "He's a good guy on the inside." He gave an apologetic smile as he looked at Frankie. "I saw how you put your daughter to sleep tonight."

Curiosity took over and now everyone, minus Kendall and Katelyn, who were both looking at Carlos, turned to look at Frankie, who's one eye widened when he heard Carlos' confession.

"What did he do?" Lucy asked the boy in the bed, ignoring the way that her chest constricted as she slowly watched Carlos slip away. If James came back too late and Carlos died, Lucy was gonna kill him for taking his sweet ass time getting back, even if she knew deep down that James was no doubt doing his best to get back here in time and as fast as he could.

Frankie gave a warning look to Carlos, threatening him to confess what happened with an eye-stare that would make anyone gulp. Carlos must've not cared or wasn't scared since he was dying already.

"He stroked her hair, kissed her head, gave her teddy bear-"

"Shut up." Frankie didn't want this guy telling his friends what went on in his life. What ever he did at home stayed at home. He was already pissed at him for spying on something private but he wasn't helping his case by confessing more of what happened.

"No, keep talking," Jo urged. "This is too cute."

"Nah, I'll be nice and not continue." The next part was when Frankie pointed a gun at him and threatened to kill him. Carlos didn't want them to know about that and threaten to either hurt Frankie or kick him out for doing so. It was a miracle that he agreed to help and Carlos knew how important it was that they keep him around. Whether or not they liked his attitude, they needed his help. "You're a good dad to her." He admitted.

'No I'm not… A good dad would keep his kid's mother alive and wouldn't watch her die.' Frankie disagreed with Carlos' statement. He felt like he was a horrible dad. Katelyn was now motherless and lost her uncle that she loved a lot because of him. He's done so much horrible shit in the last month that he wasn't proud of, which ranged from cutting himself to murder. And it was all for nothing. Most of his family was still dead.

"I'm Daddy's Little Princess!" Katelyn happily stated loud enough for all the hospital to hear her. She took off her jacket to show Carlos. "See? It says I'm Daddy's Little Princess."

"Awww." The three girls in the room all cooed at once at Kate's attitude. She was like the complete opposite of her dad. One was happy and energetic and the other one was angry and depressed.

"That's… so… coo-"

Carlos stopped talking, his eyes becoming droopy and his breathing stopping. His head fell to the pillow and his arm dangled off of the bed.

Katelyn was confused, "Carlos?" her innocent mind not knowing what was happening. She thought Carlos fell asleep.

And then it happened. Carlos started thrashing and bouncing off the bed in a fast and uncontrolled way. Kendall rushed to see what was happening while Frankie rushed to grab his daughter away from the thrashing boy.

"It's a seizure!" Kendall screamed. "Someone help!"

A few seconds later, two doctors rushed in to see what was going on. Both took opposite sides of the bed and moved everything away from Carlos' reach so he didn't hurt himself any more.

"If you hold him down you can hurt him." One said when Kendall made a move to hold Carlos down.

"You can't stop this?" Lucy fearfully asked, her heart constricting tighter around her chest as she watched Carlos thrash around on the bed like a mad man possessed.

"He has to just go through it." The man shook his head miserably as he gave the bad news.

Carlos thrashed and jumped around some more before he stopped, falling to the bed lifelessly. He was back to the way he was just a little bit ago: Unconscious and dying while on a timer that was almost up.

The man turned to Kendall, "If your friend doesn't come back soon, he's gonna die."

Kendall couldn't take it anymore and started rushing out of the room. He had lost it. He was going after James. He would find him if it was the last thing he did. He couldn't stand looking at Carlos anymore while he died. He couldn't be in the same room with his dying friend. He just couldn't. He needed to get away.

"Daddy? Why's Carlos doing that?" Katelyn couldn't grasp what was going on around her. One second Carlos was okay and the next he was jumping on his bed.

"He's sick," he quickly lied to try and ease his daughter, not sure if he'll be able to tell her the truth that the boy was dying. As much as he pained to admit it, his daughter and Carlos were sorta friends and now he was having a seizure in front of her. How did he tell her that?

"Is it my fault?" she was crying now, gripping onto her dad's shirt as he held her in his arms.

Before Frankie's brain even thought of what he wanted to say, Jo's shocked and pained voice entered the fray. "Why would you say that?" she didn't touch Katelyn, remembering Frankie's 'rule' about no one touching his family, but she still got as close as she could, her face only inches away from hers.

"My mommy went away and my daddy got hurt because of me. My uncle got hurt because of me. Did I hurt Carlos too?"

"No… Listen, sweetie, mommy didn't leave because of you. Daddy didn't get hurt because of you. Uncle Isaiah didn't get hurt because of you." He felt guilt as he thought of his ex-friend. "Carlos is just sick. It's not your fault."

"Your daddy is right. Nothing is your fault." Jo found it easy to talk to the little girl and provide comfort. She didn't have a mom anymore and her dad was doing his best to try and calm her down, but she could see he needed help. He needed back-up to drive the point home to his daughter about how it wasn't her fault about what was happening to Carlos. This little girl was clearly damaged after what happened to her and it was clearly visible now after only getting the happy side of her for the past few minutes.

Katelyn jumped out of her dad's arms and went to wrap them around Jo's neck, the older girl wrapping her arms around her so she didn't fall. She wasn't breaking the rule. Kate jumped to her, not the other way around.

"I want my mommy…"

Katelyn's statement shattered what was left of everyone's heart after the incident with Carlos. Frankie didn't mind his daughter being held by Jo as his face constricted from its usual anger to one of sorrow and guilt. He wished he could give his daughter her mother back. He would do anything to do so, but he was worthless when it came to that. He couldn't bring her back from the dead and he couldn't go back in time to save her. Every time he heard his little girl wish for her mom back, he died a little on the inside.

Jo held the baby in her arms as she let her cry on her shirt. She couldn't imagine how hard it must be for the angel she was holding securely in her arms. She was only three and had lost so much in her short life. She wanted her mommy to come back, but it wasn't gonna happen. She, along with everyone else, knew her mom was dead due to Kendall and Logan talking about her earlier today when their visit to Frankie was brought up. As she cried into her shoulder, Jo wished she could give the girl her mom back. Anything to make her happy.

Kendall's gasp from just outside of the room, having only stepped out for a few seconds, caught the attention of everyone in it. They rushed out the door and gasped too as they saw what he was looking at.

James stood next to him with a vial of liquid in his hand and a swollen ankle. He looked like he's been through hell and back.

"I got it." He waved the vial before handing it to Kendall to give to the doctor in the room. James looked really shaken up about something. He was staring off into space and his posture seemed tense. His voice too was also monotone, his hand rubbing at his head over his scalp.

Kendall took two seconds to hand the antidote over to the doctor before he was back outside with James. He examined his battered friend before he looked back into his eyes, or at least tried to. James wasn't making it easy, staring ahead and out of Kendall's sight. He appeared to be deep in thought.

"You okay?" he was concerned as he tried to talk to his friend. Kendall was shocked and happy that he saw James limping up to the room with the vial in his hand and asking if Carlos was still alive. Kendall had nodded his head and that was when everyone came rushing outside.

"I'm gonna go home… I'm tired…" he ignored Kendall's question as he stared limping down the corridor. Kendall was tempted to go after him, but restrained from doing so. Now that Carlos was gonna live, he needed to be here like he was for him when he was unconscious not too long ago. James was gonna be fine now that he was back. At least he was alive.

"Is this paper important?"

Kendall looked back to see the doctor holding a piece of paper in his hand. It must've been James' reward for making it back with the antidote. It was the next piece to the puzzle. Kendall nodded and was handed the paper, examining the small part of the building where his family was held at.

"Four down, eleven more to go." Kendall counted down as he pocketed the piece of paper. James had the other two on him while Kendall had these. It was good for their first night. Almost a third of the way done already. A rest was definitely needed. Carlos and James were beat and Kendall didn't feel like going out to do his next challenge this late… And Jo had the box in her apartment so Kendall couldn't have known where to go if he wanted to go. He walked back to the room to sit with Carlos, holding the now healing boy's hand and closing his eyes as he rested his head on the space next to his friend and fell asleep.

He was gonna be okay. He was gonna live.

Too bad Kendall didn't know what had to be done to save him.

The sound of snoring caught the attention of everyone that was left outside. Katelyn had fallen asleep in Jo's arms, finally hitting her peak and falling asleep. Her back was rising and her arms were still wrapped around Jo.

"I'll take her…" Frankie wrapped his hands around his daughter and moved to take her. Katelyn groaned as Frankie tried to take her from Jo. Still asleep, her hold tightened around the girl that was holding her. "Or not."

"I don't wanna wake her up. She needs to sleep." Jo said.

"So what the hell do we do?"

Camille and Lucy looked back and forth between them and Jo before a similar thought was shared between the three of them.

"Sleepover!"

"Really…? A sleepover?" Frankie was in disbelief at what he just heard come out of their mouths. His opinion on these people just went down.

"Why can't she just sleep here with us? We're staying because of Carlos anyway."

"I'm never leaving my daughter alone with people I don't know."

"So stay with us. There's enough room for all of us."

"No."

Jo frowned, thinking that she had come up with an easy solution. "Why?"

"I don't wanna spend more nights in the hospital. Just give me my daughter, I'll get my brother, and then I'll be on my way." He and hospitals did not go well together. He would put Katelyn back to bed after they got back home, or maybe she'll sleep in the car on the way back.

"Mommy…" Katelyn mumbled in her sleep, snuggling deeper into Jo's chest as she dreamt of her mom. A small smile was on her face as she did, liking what she was dreaming about.

"Goddamn," he couldn't wake her up now. If he did, he wouldn't forgive himself for pulling his daughter out of her dream with her mother.

"You're spending the night," Jo said in a sing-song tone as she walked back inside of the room where Kendall and Carlos were.

Frankie grumbled under his breath as he reluctantly followed her to check on Nate, the baby having been too quiet for a little while. Lucy and Camille were behind him as he walked. He ran his hand across Nate's face as he wiped off the saliva that was on his cheek, the baby drooling as he slept.

"Can I hold him… please?" Camille really wanted to hold the baby. He was just too cute and seeing how Jo handled Katelyn made her want to hold Nate even more. If her friend got to hold one of the babies then it was only fair that she got a turn.

"Fine… Just shut up already." Frankie could see that they were nice people, if the way Jo was handling his daughter was any indication. That was a reason why he didn't want them to touch them in the first place. He didn't know if they were good people before, so he was on guard on how they will handle his family. Jo was good to his baby; he figured it couldn't hurt to let Camille hold Nate.

Plus… he didn't have the patience to hear her beg him over and over

He unstrapped the infant and handed him gently over to the awaiting girl. "Be gentle with him." His voice was softer than it was, turning into what he used for when he talked about and to Katelyn. It was his daddy voice. "Hold his head." He instructed.

"I know what to do. I can hold a baby." She playfully rolled her eyes as she held the baby. "Hey cutie, how are you doing." She cooed down to the sleeping baby. Even asleep and up close, he was still cute and adorable. Lucy got in on the action and stood next to Camille and fawned over the baby with her.

Frankie watched carefully as he eyed Camille hold Nate and as Jo sat down and wrapped her arms more securely around his sleeping daughter. He had to admit that it was kinda nice that his daughter and brother were getting more attention from someone that wasn't him. It was a breath of fresh air and it made him crack a smile.

And surprisingly… he didn't reach for his hidden gun once.

…

James had the hot water on as he placed the empty gun on the toilet, his shirt off as he glanced at himself in the mirror. He ran his hands over the marks that were on his chest as he watched his actions through the glass. He caught glimpse of his bleeding scalp, running a hand up as he clutched at it.

A chunk of his hair was gone.

James stared down himself in the mirror as his eyes grew distant and cold, remembering what happened just an hour ago.

"_How many bullets are left?_"

James remembered what Otis had said when they met back up when he fell and messed up his ankle. Otis had made it out of the door that was where James had landed and the two had continued the escape. James had killed another dog that tried to bite him and had been reduced down to one bullet.

"_One… Just one…_"

James shook his head as he opened the cabinet of the apartment bathroom and ransacked his hands through the various items that were inside, looking for something specific.

His mind went back to what happened when they were being chased by the last ten dogs that were there.

"_What are we gonna do?" Otis asked as he and James limped across the yard to where James had his car parked. They were almost home free, but almost wasn't good enough here. The dogs were gonna catch them due to them going really slow, both having a problem with their ankle._

_James took a deep breath before he moved to the side and looked to Otis apologetically. "I'm sorry…" Otis didn't know what he was talking about. Was he sorry that this was the end? That they had gotten so close only to die at the end? No… he got his answer a second later…_

_When James shot him in the leg with the last bullet._

_James jumped down onto him to get the vial out of his hand, Otis enraged at the sudden betrayal. Now this bastard was gonna die with him. He grabbed James' hair to ensure that he didn't get away._

James found the shaver and started shaving his head over the sink, mops and mops of his hair falling to the ground by his feet and into the sink. He loved his hair, but it needed to go before questions were asked and suspicions rose…

He couldn't let his friends know he was a murderer.

_James angrily grabbed onto the vial and pulled with all his strength to get it out of Otis' grip. This wasn't easy for him to do, but he wasn't gonna let all of them die. If he and Otis died, then Carlos died. Better to only lose one person than to lose three. It was this thought that kept James going as he wrestled with the dead man beneath him._

"_LET GO!" James yelled as he managed to break free, a chunk of his hair gone as he got the vial and started limping to the car only a short distance away. He didn't look back as he heard Otis get chomped on by the animals and his screams echoed into the night. James couldn't see the corpse of the man that he just killed as he got in the car and drove to the hospital to save Carlos._

_Otis was dead anyway. He got rabies. James did what he had to do to save himself and his friend…_

_Then why did he feel bad?_

James finished the last shave before he wiped off the steam that gathered on the mirror due to the heat and glanced at his new self. Gone was the hair and the scared expression that was there when he started. After wiping off the steam, he saw a bald and angry man on the other side.

James learned something tonight. He was gonna have to do shit like this until they found Logan and the rest. He couldn't let it get him down no matter how bad he felt. He did what he had to do and he not only killed Otis, but someone else was killed.

The old James died back there with him and this new James had taken surface.

James had committed double-murder tonight and fearfully…

He didn't give a shit.

End of Chapter 9 of Heavy Blood

Wow… Damn James. He killed someone.

Was he in the right or no?

How do you like Frankie and his family as characters? There was a bunch of foreshadowing here just so you know on pairings and such.

James shaving his head is symbolic for me since I know how he acts for the rest of the story. He's not done with his murder streak and he may hurt one of his friends by doing so.

We see Logan next time.

Next Time: Endurance


	10. Endurance

Disclaimer: Don't own Big Time Rush

AN: **Yeah, already putting up the next chapter. After what James did, I figured I shouldn't be mean to all of you with the cliffhangers and such. Plus, we haven't seen Logan in awhile and I guess most of you wanna know how he's doing.**

**I'm not doing the long chapters anymore so I can update more often. They take up a bunch of what free time I have so I decided to just make them smaller. Only a few chapters need to be long so it flows greatly, like a Kendall/James centered chapter later on down the road. From now on, most chapters will be shorter than the last ones have been.**

**Enjoy**

Chapter 10- Endurance

Logan was settled against the wall that was closest to the bathroom; his head hung low as tears found their way falling out of his face. His legs were stretched out and his arms were dangling off from side to side. He just mercy-killed a pregnant woman who was dying from poison. The guilt and remorse he was feeling was enough to make him feel like he was dying on the inside. He shouldn't have done it. He should've just said 'no' and allow himself to be taken back to his room. But he couldn't say it… He had to do it… He needed to have Katie and Mrs. Knight with him instead of God knows where.

He had to kill to bring them to him.

It's what Kendall would've done.

He was wondering what they were up to. He was wondering how Kendall, James, and Carlos were handling the disappearance. From what Pete told him, his friends were being forced to do challenges to find them. Logan was still baffled over hearing what they had done. He still didn't know what Carlos had done, his captors not telling him anything about what happened to his friend. Logan knew that his friend would do anything for his friends, but what had happened to him that the people who were holding him hostage wouldn't tell him. Was he okay? If he wasn't and if he had hurt himself because of something that the killer made him do, Logan's hatred for the man would rise even higher than it was.

And James… He didn't know what James did that the killer of all people considered to be inhumane. That was really something to be worried about if the killer said that what he did was inhumane. This was coming from the man who killed countless amounts of people and committed horrible and heinous acts that questioned a man's humanity. But Logan had faith… Had faith that whatever it was that James did wasn't as bad as what the killer had done during his crime spree. Nothing James did could ever be as bad as what the killer did. James would never kidnap people, he would never hurt someone, and he would never kill someone.

Logan stood up from his spot on the floor once he heard the lock click on the door. He had heard Pete tell him that he was going to get the girls from where they were, but Logan was convinced that he was lying. Why would he tell him the truth? Why would the killer keep his word and give the girls to him? He didn't have a reason to. He was a serial killer and he was just one-fourth of a boy band. He didn't owe him anything.

Logan's eyes landed on the baseball that was thrown at him when Pete grabbed him and went to bring him to the room where he killed the pregnant lady. He thought about picking it up and using it as a weapon for when Pete opened the door or whoever it was. But if it turned out that the killer kept his word and was really giving him Katie and Mrs. Knight, he didn't want to ruin it and have them get hurt because of his foolishness.

The door slowly opened, Logan staying on guard just in case. Even though his arm was burning because of the bruise on his arm, he still kept a look of confidence on his face. With what he's just done with the pregnant lady, he knew that he could definitely hurt someone he didn't like or care for. He quickly dismissed the thought with how bad that sounded. He didn't want to sound like he was crazy, even if he was the only one who could hear his thoughts.

Pete stuck his head in through the door, locking eyes with Logan, a smirk on his face as he watched the teen boy stare at him. "What's up Loges?" Logan shrugged at him, remembering how he acted the last time he completely ignored him and his greeting. "I believe that you were promised this…?" he stuck his head back out and the next second, he was shoving Katie and Jennifer inside the room.

Logan immediately jumped to attention after seeing that they were really here. The killer actually kept his promise and brought them to him. Maybe he wasn't a complete asshole after all. One reminder about what he had done to countless families reminded Logan just how bad of a person he was.

Katie and Jen were shocked to see Logan here. The three of them just stared at each other, not really sure as to what to say to each other. What were they supposed to say? Logan was glad they were okay, don't get him wrong; but now that they were here and with him, he didn't know what to do next.

"Logan?" Mrs. Knight's alerted and confused voice brought sound to the quiet room. This man Pete had told her and her daughter that one of the boys were here and they were automatically thinking of Kendall, due to both of them being taken. Kendall might've been really tough, but if he had a gun pointed to him, he wouldn't have a choice and to go with the man that took them.

"Are you guys okay?" Logan asked the first question that came to his lips that concerned the two girls. They looked alright physically, but he didn't know how they were doing mentally. It might've been too early any real damaging mental damage, but Logan already had to kill someone and was dealing with the guilt and remorse that came with it. Who knows what the Knight women had to go through?

Katie seemed to think his question was stupid, glaring at him and folding her arms over her chest. "What do you think?! We're kidnapped by a serial killer and we're gonna die in a few weeks. What the hell do you think?"

Pete whistled, leaning against the doorframe with his hand on top of his gun holster. It was the first time that Logan had seen him with one. He must've gotten it so the three of them didn't overpower him when they got together, not that it would be possible with how big this guy was compared to them. "Hey, sweetie, you have a real potty mouth on you."

Jen glared at the man when he spoke, surprising Logan. He's seen Mama Knight disappointed at him or the other guys before and that look was enough to scare him and his friends into apologizing or backing out of what it was that they were about to do. He's never seen her this angry before and that was enough to make him back out and away from her.

"Don't call my daughter that." Her voice was venom-filled and that of a demon. The hatred that was coming out of this woman was something to be feared. When someone as nice as her was this angry at someone, heads were sure to roll if she was pushed enough to do so. With as angry and twitchy as she was now, Logan was worried that she was gonna jump the man by the doorframe.

Pete seemed to find the whole thing funny. "Listen, honey, don't tell me what to do. I'm the man with the gun… And you oughta be more polite to a man with a gun… It's only common sense." He threw in a smirk and a flirty wink at the end there, making all three hostages cringe at the gesture. He laughed, "Now don't cringe just yet… You still don't know what James did…"

The mention of their brother/son made all three turn back to him instead of one another. The tone of this guy's voice seemed to find what ever it was that James did funny. And if someone like him found something funny, it usually wasn't and was sick. Pete used the hand that wasn't on the gun to pull out a VHS tape from his pocket. His boss handed it to him after he had taken Logan back to the room, having copied the footage from the school onto the tape to show the three later.

Pete made sure that they were all off to the side and not in his way as he opened the dresser in Logan's room to reveal a small T.V. hidden on the inside. He placed the tape into the VCR and pressed play before going back to his spot on the doorframe to watch, curious too as to what James had done. He heard it, but he wanted to see it with his own eyes.

James appeared on the screen of the small T.V. along with another man that the three hostages didn't recognize. James was limping on his right side along with the man that he was with. James had a gun in his hand and there were dogs behind them, rabie-infested dogs that were identical to the ones locked in the cage here that Logan had seen before he killed the woman. They were all leaning forward to see what James was gonna do to get out of this. If he didn't move soon, he was gonna get caught and eaten alive by the crazy animals.

What he did next shocked the room. He shot the man and wrestled with him to get something out of his hand. They didn't care as to what James was wrestling out of the man's hand; they were too busy staring in shock and awe at what he just did.

James Diamond, one of the members of their family, just straight up murdered someone.

"J-James…?" Logan was the only one to gasp as the playback ended and static overtook where James was just standing. The look on his face… The look of someone who didn't care about what he just did. James looked like he didn't just put a bullet in someone's leg. How could he do that? Why would he do that?

Pete answered the unasked question. "Wow… James really is putting his all into the challenges. From what my boss knows of him, he would never have done this. This is a shock to everyone, not just you three."

This was what their challenges were? Their challenges were to kill people? What kind of sick shit is that?

"Challenges?" Katie asked, not sure what was going on when that was said. What did this guy mean when he said challenges? She was shocked and horrified that James just shot and killed a man. The boy that she knew just yesterday wouldn't ever do something like this. The worse thing that he had ever done before was break a lamp and lied about it. He never would point a gun and shoot someone just to do it.

"Logan here is about to start his first one… That's if he wants too." Pete smirked. "Remember… You don't have to do anything. You can just sit here for two weeks and wait for time to end. Or you can do challenges and for each one you complete, you get one step closer to leaving. Do five and you can leave… You already did one…"

"I thought that was a pre-challenge?" Logan ignored the stares that Jen and Katie were giving him. He couldn't look at them. He killed a mother and child to get them here. He didn't know how much of that they would understand. Maybe Jen would get offended that he killed a mother and child due to her being a mother herself. Logan knew how stupid it was to think that, but the thought was still there.

Pete smirked larger, "We lied… Killing that woman and her child was your first challenge…" Katie and Jen looked at him in shock, Logan avoiding eye contact with the both of them. "We figured we make it easier on you by saying it was a pre-challenge. It was kinda easy compared to what else you have to do."

"Which is what?" Logan was trying to keep the conversation going as best he could to avoid talking to Jen and Katie about what he did. He didn't want to think about it. He wasn't proud of what he had to do, but he needed to do it. He needed to save them and get them here. He would've loved to not have killed anyone, but nothing was easy for him lately.

"You wanna take it now? We can do it here if we have to."

If it meant not going near the rabie dogs again, Logan would gladly not leave this room. But he didn't want the girls to see him do something horrible. If it was as bad as killing someone, he didn't want them to see him commit a heinous act. He would much rather just have it as just him and this guy. He didn't want to see the killer's face again right now. He would go on a rage if he did.

If he did it, they would get one step closer to escaping. If he didn't, they wouldn't and something would happen to one of the girls. He would never be able to live with himself if he panicked and quitted his challenge and got them hurt. Kendall would hate him for doing so. He couldn't handle the thought of his friend hating him, he just couldn't.

He didn't have a choice. He had to do it now. He had to get them closer to getting out of here. He still had faith that Kendall and his friends would find them, but it would be better to escape on his own and save them the trouble.

If James had to kill someone like he did, Logan didn't want to think about what else they might have to do. Better for only one of them to suffer than to have all four of them suffer.

He slowly nodded his head and as soon as his head finished bobbing up and down, he felt something hit his face and send him flying against the wall. He slid down and rubbed his cheek where he just got hit. He picked his head up to see Pete with his hand extended, his hands balled into a fist. Did he just punch him? And if he did, why?

"Take this beating…" he said as he shoved past the stunned women and kicked Logan back to the wall, his ribs burning from the impact. "That is your challenge."

Logan screamed as he felt his face being pressed tightly against the wall, his teeth screaming for him to get away and to find space to breathe. He was trying, but Pete wasn't making that easy. The bruise that was already on his arm burned from the sudden hold that Pete had on him and pulled Logan's arm back behind his back, seemingly trying to pull it off.

"Get off of him!" Jen screamed at Pete to let the boy go. She was horrified at what was going on. First they see James kill someone on video, then they find out Logan killed someone, which she wasn't mad about; knowing that he did what he had to do, and now he was getting beaten as a challenge. This wasn't a challenge. It was torture and madness. She was about to jump in before Pete shook his head behind Logan.

"He agreed to this. You can't jump in or I'm gonna jump in on you…" his smirk told her all she needed to know. She instantly backed away and wrapped her arms around Katie as she pulled her away and faced away from Logan's beating. She hoped her daughter didn't understand what Pete meant with the smirk. Katie was bright for her age though, so it wouldn't surprise her if she did know, but she can hope and dream that she didn't.

Logan winced and whined as he felt his arm being pulled from his socket. This was madness and mutiny. It was like Pete was trying to kill him instead of just beat him. He felt himself spin and turn around and the impact of his chest colliding with the wall over and over. How much longer was he gonna have to suffer for this? He could do it, he knew he could. Physical scars and bruises went away. He was still more upset about the murder he committed instead of the feeling of his bones lining up and taking turns shattering. Those would heal while his psyche wouldn't.

"You're taking it like a champ." Pete laughed as he threw Logan to the ground and started kicking him repeatedly, the fallen boy beneath him folding into a ball-shape to try and reduce some of the pain. "You're not crying or anything. I'm impressed."

Logan felt the consciousness leave his body as he got kicked repeatedly and stepped on. He was sure blood was escaping from his mouth and all other parts of his body while Pete did his thing. This was horrible. He was never in so much pain before in all of his life. This pain was worse than when he broke his arm when he was seven and fell out of a tree and the embarrassment he felt now getting beaten in front of Katie and Jen was worse than the lecture he got from his parents.

But he was seven at the time and didn't know what he was doing. He knew what he was doing now and that made this worse. He pretty much gave Pete the O.K. to jump on him and beat him until he was black and blue. But with more thought that pushed away the pain from his mind, he knew he was doing this for the women in the room. He was doing this so they could all escape.

He passed out at some point and didn't know that Pete was dragging his body out and across the building. He didn't know that he left Katie and Jen locked in his room as they called for him. He didn't know that he was bleeding and bruised everywhere.

All he did know was that he just got them closer to escaping and that was good enough for him.

It made the beating worth it.

End of Chapter 10 of Heavy Blood

Don't get mad at me for having that happen to Logan or for the short chapter. I gave you guys three 10,000 word chapters the past three chapters. You can handle one 3,000 word one.

I feel like I hate Logan with how short I'm making his screen-time. But don't worry about it. He'll get A LOT more in later chapters and I might make a short spin-off that focuses entirely on him, Katie, and Jen since we're gonna be jumping around a bit with time. The entire story, or the first third of it, is two weeks.

Yes, this whole thing of Kendall, James, and Carlos trying to find Logan, Jen, and Katie is just the first-third of the story. I'm not spoiling what happens or what the other two-thirds of the story are since it'll ruin this one.

Hope you enjoy and please remember to review, favorite, and alert if you liked. It helps me to update faster.

Next Time: Ominous Vibe


	11. Ominous Vibe

Disclaimer: Don't own Big Time Rush

AN: **Here's the next chapter for the story. Thanks to all of you that reviewed, favorited, and alerted this story. It really does mean a lot to me. People are very interested in this idea of the Painter Killer.**

**And people are very interested in what will happen with James now that he did what he did. Well, we see him in this chapter and you'll notice how he's changed in this last night. We're finally on Day 2 and out of Day 1.**

**Enjoy**

Chapter 11- Ominous Vibe

Kendall felt the heat of the morning sun shine on his face as he tried to wipe the sleep out of his eyes. His head hurt from the uncomfortable sleeping position that he was in, but it didn't really bother him. It didn't bother him because he slept knowing that Carlos was alive and well. His adorable innocent friend was gonna be okay. He was no longer at death's doorstep.

Kendall picked his head up to examine his friend, who was still sleeping in the clothes that he had from yesterday, just like everyone else in the room. His skin regained color that he had lost from the poison that had circulated his body only hours ago; he was breathing normally now like any sleeping person would; and he didn't look in pain anymore.

Kendall let a smile form its way on his lips. It was because of James that Carlos would live. It was because of James that the boy would be O.K. It was because of James that Carlos would be able to continue living.

James…

Kendall remembered the look of horror that was on James' face when he had arrived with the antidote last night. He looked so lost… so horrified… so regretful at something. Kendall's never seen James like that before his entire life. He's known the boy for almost his entire life and not once has he seen James so horrified before. Why was he like that?

What happened last night to him…?

Kendall thought about taking out his phone to call him up and ask for him to come back, but refrained from doing so. They were gonna head on back to the apartment today anyway. They had to prepare for the police to come show up and ask them about his family when it became obvious that they were missing. Carlos was also gonna come back today. Even if the doctors for some reason wanted him to stay, they would sneak him out. He was fine now that he got the antidote and frankly, Kendall felt that enough time had been wasted here in the hospital. Kendall wanted to get out of here as fast as he could and hope to never have to come back here.

James could wait an hour or two in the apartment by himself. Maybe catch up on sleep that he rightfully deserved after risking his life twice in one night and saving Carlos'. James did the most work last night out of the three of them.

Kendall looked down to his bandaged arms. There were small stains of blood that came from the other side where he crawled on the glass. With these cuts, James' scars, and Carlos getting poisoned and almost dying; it was a really eventful first night. Even so, Kendall still wished that he did more. He wished that he did two challenges like James had. He was supposed to be the leader; the toughest one of them all. He should've done as much as James had and suffered as much as Carlos had suffered… maybe even more than they had.

That wasn't a normal thought but Kendall felt that he should feel that way. He had pulled him and his friends out of crappy situations before and thought that this wasn't any different. He should've done as much as James had done and suffered as much as Carlos had. Kendall hadn't done anything last night. All he did was crawl on glass and wait; that's it. Nothing else. He was lazy last night and his two friends had gone through so much hell because of his laziness. Well that wasn't gonna happen again. From today onward, Kendall would do a lot more than he had done last night.

The boy turned his head to see what was going on behind him. Much to his surprise, the baby seat that held Nate was still there with the baby inside sleeping. Camille and Lucy were sleeping on two of the three chairs that were in the room with the third one being occupied by Jo, who was holding Frankie's daughter in her arms as the two girls slept in the chair together. Katelyn's head was buried in Jo's chest and her arms around the older girl with Jo holding the little girl securely in her arms.

Besides James, the only person absent from the room was Frankie. Kendall heard the sound of running water from the bathroom. The door opened and out-stepped the absent Frankie Wilson with two bottles in his hand filled with milk and juice respectively. The father shook both bottles before he moved past Kendall without sparing him a glance. Kendall watched him stare at his sleeping daughter and Jo before he went over to check on the sleeping baby.

"Hey…" he heard him whisper down to the baby as he slowly pulled him from the baby seat. "How you doing, little man?" Kendall almost couldn't believe the soft tone that he heard come from him. Compared to the rough guy from last night, this was something completely unexpected coming from him. If there was one thing Kendall could say about the guy in front of him taking care of the baby, it was that he was a good caretaker.

Kendall wanted to say something to him. Wanted to ask him about the challenges and what would be good to do from here on out. Kendall might've not been able to stand Frankie's attitude before, but now he needed to so he could find out the best ways to complete the challenges so no one got hurt like last night. What stopped him was the display that was going on in front of him. He couldn't ask him when he was taking care of the baby.

"Are you gonna keep staring at me or are you gonna ask me something?" Frankie's voice called to the boy that was staring at him, still focusing on his task of feeding his brother. He still sounded soft, but Kendall knew that that could change any second.

"Not sure if I should…" Kendall almost sounded hesitant to ask. He was just handed his chance to ask him and he let it slip by him.

"Trust me; nothing you ask me can piss me off anymore than I already am." Kendall looked surprised, shrugging before he finally decided to spit it out with the question, thinking that Frankie might be more pissed if he just decided to forget to ask him the question.

"Alright…" Kendall took a deep breath before he asked the question. "What are we gonna do about the challenges?" Frankie turned his head to glance at him, waiting for him to continue talking. "What I mean is… What are the last eleven challenges and what's the best way to do them?" There. The question was out now. Time for Kendall to see how mad Frankie got for him asking the question that he told Kendall wouldn't piss him off.

Frankie sighed before he placed Nathan back into the seat after he wouldn't eat anymore. He still had another bottle in his hand as he turned around so he was facing Kendall. He ran his free hand over his bandaged eye, the sight of his bandage causing Kendall to flinch. He didn't want to know how much that hurt to lose his eye.

"Your little glass adventure is how I lost my eye. Be grateful that you didn't land on your face when you fell out like I did." Kendall was grateful. He was happy he got lucky and didn't lose his eye like Frankie had. "Your two friends got stabbed by needles and shot with poison, which means you three completed the first row in one night. Kinda impressive if I had to admit. Took me, my friend, and my daughter's mother three days to do it."

Kendall took the compliment, figuring that it was hard to get those from a guy like him. He glanced back to the sleeping Carlos and winced when Frankie mentioned the poison. "What about the antidote? Do you know what the challenge is to get that? James didn't say anything before he left last night."

Kendall didn't see how Frankie glared at the mention of that challenge. He didn't see how he looked to his daughter before he shook his head fiercely to clear his head. Kendall was confused when he didn't hear anything coming from Frankie, thinking that he hadn't heard him. Before he could ask again, he heard something from him.

"My friend did it. Wouldn't tell me what it was when I asked him." Huh. Kendall found that funny since it was just like him and James. Looks like they had something in common afterall besides the fact that their family was kidnapped by a serial killer at some point, even if this pertained to the killer in some way.

"You don't have _**any **_clue as to what it is?" Kendall figured that he had to know something about it, even if he only knew what the outcome was of the challenge; Kendall wanted to know why James was horrified and upset. He wanted to know how to help his friend if something bad had happened while he was there.

Frankie shook his head at the blonde boy. "Didn't you hear what I just said? I said I don't know what the challenge is. Even if you just woke up, learn how to listen to me when I tell you something." And there was the asshole persona that Kendall knew was gonna be a pain in the ass to deal with. He could do this. It was just like dealing with a younger Gustavo. He could ride it out until they saved his family. He would do anything for them.

"Alright, asshole; no need to be harsh about it." Kendall narrowed his eyes at him slightly; just enough to let the man know that he wasn't gonna take kindly to any of his shit. He might've had a legit reason to be angry, but there wasn't a need to be an asshole to people who meant no harm to him. No matter how much Kendall felt like he wanted to smack him for being an ass, he wouldn't do it because he was a better person. He was the bigger man.

"Humph. You're not my father. I don't have to do anything you say. I'll be an asshole if I wanna be. Don't make me change my mind and just leave you to do this on your own and make me say-" he cut himself off before he could finish, turning back to his daughter and Jo.

"Say what?" Kendall stepped forward and grabbed his shoulder, trying to turn him to face him again, not finished speaking to him. "Finish talking to me or did you lose your nerve?"

Frankie grabbed his hand that was placed on his shoulder and spun around, getting behind Kendall and holding his arm in a fierce grip behind the boy's back. His other hand rested over his pocket as he placed his lips dangerously close to his ear.

"I am _**not **_scared of you or your friends. Nothing you ever say to me will ever intimidate me or make me shit my pants. I've done shit that you can only dream of." '_Shit that your friend James knows all too well after last night_' he added as an afterthought to his message to Kendall. He didn't appreciate him trying to get him scared of him. It just reminded him of someone who was long gone by now to him; someone who tried to take his little girl away from him…

The man he killed.

Kendall groaned as the pain in his arm that he had from the glass challenge amplified from Frankie's force upon it. Finally, he shoved him to Carlos' bed, the sudden shake of the bed almost waking him up. Instead, he simply moaned in his sleep before going silent once again. The two men stared at each other, Frankie's hand still hovering over his pocket while Kendall stared at him and his hand, confused as to why he was doing that.

Frankie moved his hand away before he went to pick up the bottle that had fallen when he grabbed Kendall; grateful it didn't fall open and spill from the impact. He never took his eyes off of Kendall as he made sure the cap to the bottle was still sealed tight.

He glared at him, "Next time, if you really make me angry and give me a reason to… I'll kill you." The tone of his voice made Kendall choke on the air he was supposed to be breathing. There was no joking; no sarcasm; none of that as he spoke to him. Not even the bottle of apple juice that he held in his hand could downgrade the killer intent that he felt coming off of this man. He was really messed up if he can create this kind of intent that should only come from soldiers or the Painter Killer himself.

That intent moved across the room and stirred everyone but Carlos from their sleep. The two men kept staring at the other while the four girls behind them started to wake up, Frankie still glaring and Kendall still frightened at what he said.

Jo blinked her eyes while Katelyn rubbed hers with her knuckles, yawning cutely as she did. The sound of her yawn made the glare drop from Frankie's face, Kendall blinking at how fast he swapped out the glare to the small smile that was now on it. This guy was definitely good with playing with his emotions… or lack of.

"Did you sleep well, baby?" Frankie asked his daughter as he finally turned away from Kendall and turned to his little girl, who nodded in response to his answer.

"Yes, daddy; Jo is really comfy to sleep on." She snuggled back into the girl while giggling, the older girl blushing just a little bit at her compliment.

Again, seeing his daughter interact so easily with a stranger got to him. Why was his little girl so comfortable around these people? Frankie couldn't talk to Kendall for five minutes without threatening to kill him and he had shoved a gun in Carlos' face in about two last night. Did his daughter just know something that he didn't? Or was Jo's slight resemblance to her mother is what made her so comfortable? He didn't know and honestly hoped that his daughter didn't get too attached to this girl.

After this was all over, they weren't gonna see them again anyway. He didn't want her to get hurt, not after all that his three-year-old princess had suffered in the past month.

"You want juice?"

"Is it apple juice?"

Frankie nodded, "Of course it is." He handed the bottle to his daughter and the little girl started drinking the juice inside.

"She still uses a bottle?" Camille asked as she fully awoke and took in what was going on around her. Katelyn was still snuggled into Jo's chest and was drinking a bottle. Camille almost pointed out how Jo seemed so comfortable and how she had her arms secured around the baby. She refrained… knowing that Frankie would take his kid away from Jo and Camille couldn't do that to her friend when she looked so happy, even if she herself didn't notice.

"She wanted to use them again… I don't see the big deal in it…" even if he didn't sound angry or demanding, the words he used still made everyone a little frightened of him, knowing that he could get angry real fast.

"It isn't…"

"Good."

People questioning his parenting was the one thing that Frankie _**hated **_more than anything and anyone in his life. His hatred for the man who killed his family was ranked slightly lower than the idea of someone questioning his choices regarding his daughter. It was because of this that he was led to do some horrible thing that he couldn't forget no matter what he did or how much he tried to push it out. The taunts raged against his head as the sound of flesh being cut and a gunshot rung in his ears, making him relive what it was he was seeing or remembering.

Kendall recovered from the threat that Frankie gave him, deciding to keep it to himself and the man who threatened him. His friends needed a break after last night with all the drama and worries. It was fine though, because if he threatened him again; he was gonna squeal and tell everyone, police included. He was sorry that Katelyn and Nate would lose their guardian, but he needed to protect himself and his friends first.

"Alright. We're in Day Two now and we need to see where the next challenges are and what they are. Can't afford to lose any time with this guy on the loose and with my family."

"Who's gonna go next?" Lucy asked, being the last one to fully awake and join into the conversation; always having been a late bloomer. Before Kendall could answer, Carlos sat up and turned so he was facing his friends.

"I will."

Everyone minus the Wilsons turned shocked at hearing him say that. Carlos just recovered from dying and now he was talking about going back out there and risking his life again? What the hell was he thinking?

"No… No, not after last night… Not after you got poisoned…" Kendall was shaking his head wildly at the thought of his little brother going back out there so soon after nearly dying the night before. He was going next. It was gonna be him.

"So? That doesn't mean anything. I need to go back out eventually. Why can't I go next?" Carlos frowned at the overprotectiveness of his friend, berating himself silently for not seeing it coming after last night's events.

"Because you were poisoned, Carlos. You almost died-"

"So did you and James!" Carlos argued back, having recovered all of his strength that he lost when he was poisoned. He was always a fast healer and after getting the antidote, it was like recovering from a stomach ache. "That means you and him shouldn't go back out either…" he just noticed the absence of his tall brunette friend. "Where's James?"

"He went home last night after getting the antidote. He said he was tired." Kendall explained, Carlos nodding at his answer. "But back on topic," Carlos groaned. "You need to rest."

"And you need to stop babying me. Just because I'm smaller than you doesn't mean I'm a baby. I'm almost an adult and I want to help my family. I want to save them Kendall and I can't do that if I don't go back out there and do my challenges."

Kendall knew that Carlos had a point; a few actually, but he wouldn't admit it out loud, thinking that Carlos would take it as him giving in and giving him the okay to go out again so soon.

"I'll be okay… I promise…"

Kendall didn't know what to do now. Say no and let Carlos hate him for being protective, or say yes and take the chance of him getting hurt again and living with the guilt. This choice was as hard as the one he made last night to go and crawl into the tunnel. Lives were on the line no matter what he picked.

But he knew that, eventually, Carlos was gonna have to go out. It was inevitable. He needed to go if they wanted to get farther into the challenges. He almost forgot that they now had someone here with first-hand experience with the challenges. Still. It didn't ease Kendall's fear of Carlos getting hurt in anyway.

But if he said he was gonna be O.K., then Kendall believed him. If he did get hurt again, Kendall was gonna tell him 'I told you so' and make sure that Carlos didn't open another one of those papers.

"Fine… You win… Let's get going guys. We got a lot of ground to cover."

…

"James? We're back and Carlos is with us."

Kendall smirked at how well their plan had worked. They all walked out in one attempt with Carlos in the middle so no one knew that he was hiding or escaping the hospital, knowing that the doctors wouldn't let him leave so soon after getting poisoned. Now they knew they had to stay away from the hospital in fear of being recognized and interrogated on why they snuck Carlos out.

The sound of the toilet flushing gave them their answer that James was in the bathroom. Kendall watched the door open and James giving his back to them as he wiped his hands on his shirt. When he turned around, Jo dropped the box that held the challenges; the lid falling open and the two guns sliding out. The challenges somehow stayed in order where they were.

James' head was shaved! He had no hair!

"James! Someone shaved your head!" Carlos yelled frantically as he pointed to the hairless head of his friend. "Who did it?! Did you piss someone off so bad that they shaved your head?!"

"No…"

"Then why is your-"

"I shaved it myself." He answered, running a hand through the roughness of his head; staring back at all of his friends. Yes it was shocking he did this, being the hair-loving freak that he was, but he didn't have a choice. They would figure out he was a murderer and hate him forever. It was better this way for everyone… Not to mention the hair is what almost made him get eaten at the end there after wasting the last bullet. It needed to go before he almost got killed again.

"You gave yourself a haircut?" Katelyn asked in fascination. She looked up to the studying face of her father. "Daddy, can I give myself a haircut too?"

"Absolutely not," he shook his head. "You're too little to hold scissors." Katelyn pouted but accepted her dad's answer, moving closer to Jo, seeing the guns on the floor and hiding behind her for protection.

"Why?" Kendall asked after a small beat of silence. He was sure that James was hiding something from them. He shaved his head and that wasn't something that James would do on his own. He wouldn't do it even if someone held him at gunpoint. James would rather die looking good than to live with no hair. It was a contradiction that he was facing right now.

James' eyes flashed with visions of him wrestling with Otis; his ears were filled with the barking, gunshots, and yelling of the night before. He blinked and shook his head to clear his head as best he could.

"Just thought I need a change…" It wasn't a complete lie. James did think that the change from having hair to no hair was needed and necessary. He strolled to them and picked up the box and fallen weapons. "Be careful with this; there's babies here." James turned and looked for the second paper that was for him. He found it and opened it.

_James Diamond,_

_Your next challenge is to make a huge sacrifice. You must choose either the life of one or the lives of many. Make this choice and you might succeed in this next challenge. Will you save Carlos or die trying?_

_Adios_

James crumbled the paper and put it away in his pocket. Even if he completed the challenge already, he couldn't have them see it and make a connection of his new appearance and the sacrifice that he needed to make.

The sacrifice that he already made…

Otis' screams rung in his ears again as he placed the box and guns on the table where he had his empty one resting.

"James…"

Kendall knew something was wrong and the way that Frankie kept looking at James and not at his daughter as she started climbing up Jo's leg made him realize that maybe Frankie knew more than he was letting on. James' experience last night didn't seem new to Frankie, despite him having said that he didn't know anything about what he might have gone through, and that it was his friend who had done it.

And James… Kendall knew that he was hiding something. The weird vibe he was giving all of them made Kendall think that something happened last night that he wasn't telling them. The shaved head; the weird vibe; the distant eyes, something happened last night and Kendall wanted to know what it was.

"I'm fine… Let's just get going with the next challenges. Who's next?"

Carlos stepped up, "I am. Pick out my next challenge…" Carlos was grateful that James didn't make a big deal about it and handed him his next paper. No animal this time but the red 2 on the back was like the 1 on the first sheet of paper. Carlos went to read it while Kendall went to interrogating James and Lucy and Camille went to helping Jo with the energetic girl climbing up her leg. Frankie just stared at James with a thoughtful look across his face.

"Kate, sweetie, you're not a monkey." Jo was amused at how the little girl seemed so invested in climbing up her leg. It was really cute, but she was hurting her leg by doing so.

Katelyn giggled as Lucy pried her off of Jo. "I know! But I want to play with you."

"Why me?"

"'Cause you're fun." Katelyn gave her answer to the girl. Once Lucy put her down on the floor, she ran back to hugging Jo's leg. "I like you."

"She's like your own little fan." Camille found the whole gesture between both blonde girls to be really cute. She was happy that Frankie was letting Jo watch Katelyn and was also happy he let her carry his brother when he needed his hands for something else, whether it was to drive or hold hid daughter's hand when crossing the street. It was like he warmed up to them in one night.

Either that or now since he had work to do, he didn't have a choice but to leave his family with them. Either way, Camille was just happy that they can watch and play with the little babies. It was a lot easier to handle than all the drama of the challenges and it got her mind off of Logan and where he was. Now that she thought of him, she saddened, looking to the baby in the seat she was holding to get a smile on her face, clearing her thoughts.

Jo picked up the little girl, "A cute fan." She nuzzled her nose into Katelyn's, the little girl giggling at how it felt.

"It tickles."

"How about this?" Jo put her lips to Kate's stomach and blew, Katelyn laughing at how much it tickled her. "Oh my God! You are just so cute!" Jo hugged her tight like a teddy bear, nibbling on her cheek just enough to get her to laugh.

"Thank you." Katelyn thanked her holder, leaning her head into her shoulder. Jo found herself gazing over to the baby's father, who glanced back to her once she started looking. Jo smiled at him, making him scoff before he turned and started walking to where James had placed the guns. Jo didn't know what his problem was, but she shrugged it off. He was just being a protective father; she couldn't blame him for that. In fact… she found it kinda cute.

Meanwhile, Kendall was talking to James. "You alright?" Kendall asked as he watched his friend open and shut the chamber to Carlos' gun, a blank expression his face as he did. "James?" James looked up to his friend, closing the chamber. "Are you okay?"

James slid the gun over, the weapon landing close to Frankie, who took it and inspected it. James folded his hands and nodded. "Yeah. Why wouldn't I be?" The final gunshot of the night echoed in his ears, Otis' screams following suit.

"The fact that you shaved your head is one thing, and the gun is empty too. You had five bullets last night before you left and now it's empty. Something happened last night."

"Dogs…" James answered as he took a quick glance to Carlos, the boy still looking at the paper in his hands, before he turned back to Kendall, the shaved head making him feel colder than he should be. "There were crazy dogs there. Rabie-infested mutts. They tried to kill me, so I had to kill four of them and I still barely made it out alive."

Kendall nodded, "What about the final bullet…?"

Frankie looked up from the gun, shutting the chamber before he looked at how James stiffened and watched his eyes grow distant and cold. He knew what he did. He wasn't stupid and it would be painfully obvious to Kendall and everyone else once the last piece to the puzzle was told to them.

There was someone else there with James…

And he killed whoever was there.

James shook his head, "I missed one shot in the beginning. It wasn't anything special." James didn't want to think about Otis and about what he did. He already felt bad enough without Kendall reminding him about what he did. "I'm fine, buddy, I promise."

Kendall frowned, still unsure about James' assurance. "Are you sur-"

"I'm fine!" James shouted as he slammed his hands on top of the counter in the kitchen. Kendall and everyone else jumped at his sudden move. James was breathing rapidly as he took a quick glance at everyone before he slowly sat back down. "I'm fine." He repeated much lower and softer this time.

Carlos took the distraction as his chance to slip out. Frankie wordlessly handed the gun to him as he walked by, letting him leave as he opened and closed the door; the sound of the wooden door closing bringing people back to their senses.

"Where did Carlos go?" Lucy asked, slight worry leaking into her voice. What if Carlos got hurt again when he was out by himself? She didn't want him to end up back in the hospital.

"The second row…" Frankie started to explain, everyone turning to him as he spoke. "All of them," he looked to James. "Aside from one… you have to kill someone." All heads turned to the door before Kendall stood up and started making a run for it, Frankie grabbing him before he could make it to the door. "It's his challenge. It's his choice to make… and he's made it."

"I'm not gonna let my friend kill someone. He can't do it. He and James are too kind of people to hurt anyone."

James almost laughed when he said that, flashes of him shooting Otis crawling into his eyes. The more he thought about it, the less bad he felt. He did what he had to do and wouldn't have done it differently.

"You're babying him. Like he said in the hospital, he's almost a grown man. You can't keep him on your leash forever." Frankie shook his head, keeping his grip on Kendall. "Let your friend do what he wants."

"Listen, I understand that you don't know what its like to have friends, given the fact that you're an asshole," Frankie glared and growled. "But I love my friends and I won't let him hurt someone just for some psycho's games." Kendall didn't care what he did to him. He needed to get to Carlos and fast before something happened. "It's called 'caring for others', not like you would know."

"Kendall, stop it." Jo came to Frankie's defense, still holding Katelyn while trying to explain to her what was going on as she watched her dad and Kendall fight.

Frankie shoved Kendall away, standing up and pointing to the door. "Good luck trying to find him. He's long gone by now and he has the paper with him so you can't find him if I let you out."

Kendall growled at him, "If we didn't need your help, I would kick you out…"

Frankie growled right back. "And if I wasn't obsessed with vengeance, I wouldn't be here. The feeling's mutual, jackass."

The two stared at each other before Kendall turned and went to his room, slamming the door shut behind him. James looked to Frankie before he shrugged at him, agreeing with him slightly. Carlos had to make his own choices and Kendall couldn't baby him forever just because of one incident.

He just hoped Carlos did what needed to be done. After all, if he could take a life, so could Carlos.

At least… he hoped.

End of Chapter 11 of Heavy Blood

Tensions are rising between both Frankie/Kendall and slightly with Kendall/James. It's nowhere near over. It hasn't even started.

More foreshadowing here on pairings and even some Jo/Kate bonding.

Will Carlos do what has to be done?

Next Time: Row 2: Carlos


	12. Carlos: Row 2

Disclaimer: Don't own Big Time Rush

AN: **I am back to this story and ready to continue on writing for it. Sorry for the wait, but I am going to be making up for lost time for this story. I got more angst planned ahead and a lot of problems that pertain to the Kendall/James friendship. Let's just say that James' madness will get deeper and make him do things that will jeopardize his friendship with Kendall.**

**Carlos angst in this chapter, so if ya'll like that, you'll be getting it in this chapter.**

**Hope you guys are still onboard for this story.**

**Enjoy.**

Chapter 12- Carlos: Row 2

Carlos turned the music up in the BTR mobile, blasting a random song that he picked out of the first album that he and his friends had made. He wanted to find a song that could fit well into the mood of despair that he was feeling at the moment, the steady mix of fear and horror with a tap of regret mixed with the silence that had surrounded him these past few minutes finally getting to him and making him crack. Carlos' hand fumbled with the volume switch of the car as he avoided the opened piece of paper that mocked him from the passenger seat. The album stopped at 'Halfway There' and Carlos didn't feel like going through the entire track of songs just to go back and listen to the one he was looking for a second time. As the beat to the song started to pound in his ears, Carlos' backside ached from the pressure of the added weight that he had been forced to carry.

The revolver that had been sent to him by the killer last night, loaded with one shot.

One shot that had been given to him by their new partner Frankie Wilson while Kendall and James went back and forth on James' small adventure to get the antidote needed to save his life. Carlos knew that if it hadn't been for the one-eyed man sitting there messing with the gun, he wouldn't have been allowed out of that apartment. Kendall and James would've held him back and made sure that he wouldn't be allowed to leave the apartment. Especially if they would've read the note, the one paragraph being burned into Carlos' brain for all eternity.

As Kendall's voice came on the small stereo, Carlos found himself bobbing his head along to the track that they created a little over two years ago. Carlos always liked this song. It symbolized that no matter how far back you were or how grim your situation was, you can keep on going and aim to get the ending you wanted to have. It symbolized a lot of things that Carlos found cool and interesting, but it wasn't the reason why he decided to stick with this song. He stuck with it because of the title 'Halfway There'. He laughed at the reason why as he glanced to the apartment building he was parked outside of.

He was halfway to his target that sat inside the apartment building.

Carlos took a quick glance to the backseats of the car. Kendall's blood from the previous night still stained the fabric of the seats, which made Carlos quench uneasily as he tried to block out the flail broken form of Kendall and replace with the boy that he saw a little over half an hour ago.

As Carlos heard his voice come on the song, he found himself lowering his head as he recollected his thoughts of all of the events that happened in the previous night. Finding the apartment empty, Kendall's challenge that ended with him getting hurt, finding out James had taken off to do his challenge on his own, him and James going to do his challenge that ended with Carlos getting poisoned, and the darkness that he found himself in for what felt like years. So much had come to them in the span of a few hours that Carlos thought that it was all really just one big and horrible nightmare that he dreamt. He thought this until he awoke to see that Kendall still had the bandages on his arms and until he saw James with his head shaved. That was when Carlos realized that this wasn't a nightmare, well; not a sleeping one. This nightmare was as real and alive as the sickening pressure he felt at the helm of his back.

Carlos felt his eyes taunting him to glance to either the piece of paper or the building that situated on his left side instead of the steering wheel that he had his hands wrapped around in a death grip that turned his knuckles white. Carlos tried to drown out the voice in his head with the music that was already blasting as high as it could go. The voice in his head was telling him to stop wasting time and that the more that he wasted, the less time that they would have to do the rest of the challenges and save Logan, Katie, and Mama Knight. Carlos wanted to ignore it because he knew that if he gave in and listened, he would start walking to the building and do what he really didn't want to do.

The thought of taking a man's life made Carlos almost lean over the open window to spit out some of the waste that he felt creeping up his throat. The challenge that he had been given was completely out of Carlos' personality. He was a people person. He loved meeting people and making friends, even if Kendall, James, and Logan will always be his three-way tie for number one, he couldn't pick one over the other three. He didn't have a mean bone in his body or the will to do anything vicious or evil. He was as harmless as the fly that was flying in front of his still face. Carlos didn't even have the mind to slap it away. That was too mean for him to do. How did the killer expect him to take a life?

Guess that's why it's called a challenge.

As the second half of the song started, Carlos finally turned his head to the direction of the building, taking a good look at the address before he turned back to the paper that's been mocking and torturing him since the moment he opened it. No picture was on it, so Carlos figured that the detailed art of the first three pieces of paper was just to show why he was called by his name The Painter Killer. The same black ink that was on the first paper of his stared back at him, different words replacing the ones that were on the first one. The only thing that stayed the same was his name at top.

_Carlos Garcia,_

_You are the nicest one of the four. You are the one that can't even hurt a fly and is probably scared of his own shadow. Well, sorry to tell you that you have to man up and do something completely out of left field for you._

_On the fifth floor of 6592 Addison Road in room 601, there is a man there named Bruce Blake. I want you to go up there and kill him. I want a picture afterwards showing his brains splattered on the ground. If you don't, you'll prove just how weak you really are._

_Best of Luck_

Carlos definitely needed the luck. It would be the only thing that would help him pull that trigger once he got upstairs. The song wrapped up and Carlos turned the volume off once the singing and music wrapped up, turning the stereo off the moment his voice finished the last note. He released his hold on the steering wheel, feeling the blood flow back into his hands as he grabbed the paper to his right. He didn't spare it another glance as he folded it and placed it in his front pocket, his backside being occupied by the small revolver that was resting in the helm of his pants, ready for Carlos to use it whenever he wanted to.

Carlos knew that he wasted enough time just sitting here delaying the inevitable. He had the mood music playing in his head, as messed up as that sounded, and the gun had the one bullet that he needed to do the job. The only thing that stopped him from getting up and walking inside was the sickness and anxiety he felt and stomached at the thought of killing someone. Combined with the pain he still felt from the poison that had circulated his system only a few hours ago and you had this massive pain that made Carlos want to crawl in the back and take a nap in the car. But there wasn't time for that. Instead of taking a nap, he was going to put someone to sleep… permanently.

He had to close his eyes and think about what will happen if he doesn't do this. If he doesn't do what he has to do and kill this stranger, then he'll be responsible for making the search for their family all the much harder. Kendall and James will be relieved he didn't kill anyone, but they will also be disappointed that he made things harder by doing so. In the moment Carlos' decision to back out would be seen in a positive light, but as time went on and things got harder, it would be in a negative light. Carlos would lose the respect his friends had for him and he'll be carrying the guilt and blood of their family for the rest of his life. He didn't want that. He couldn't have that.

Carlos let the tears fall from the edges of his eyes as he tried to work the guts he needed to go up and do his challenge. He needed to finish the path he started walking the moment he stepped out the door to 2J. He couldn't back out now or he would never forgive himself for it. It was either one person died here, or three died in two weeks. Either way, someone was going to die. Carlos was really starting to hate himself as he reached his hand back to make sure that the weight pressed against the helm of his back wasn't just his mind playing tricks on him. Much to his frustration, it wasn't a trick. The gun still waited locked and loaded for him to shoot, ready to go when Carlos was.

He felt so pathetic. If it was Kendall here, he would've done it. Kendall had said yesterday that if he had to, he would do whatever it took to keep his family safe. Kendall said that and Carlos believed him. If Kendall was in his spot, he would've gone upstairs and pulled the trigger by now, knowing the good that will come out of it. They would be one step closer to saving Logan and the Knights and everything would work out. But he wasn't his brave friend. He was Little Baby Carlos; the boy who was too nice to hurt a fly. He couldn't take a man's life. He was just that useless and frightened. If it was Kendall or James here, they both would've done it.

Carlos was scared of James' new appearance. He looked nothing like how he usually did and the aggravation that James had that caused him to slam his hands on the table startled Carlos to the point that he left to come here just to get away from him. Carlos might've not been as smart as Logan, but he was a people person and the skills that came with that were seeing how people were and how they acted. James wasn't anything like he was last time. The usual charisma and pleasant nature of James wasn't there when Carlos saw him this morning. There wasn't even a trace of it. The charisma was replaced with tension and the pleasant nature was replaced with a guilty one. It was like James' act of shaving his head for whatever reason took away all of his old personality qualities; the qualities that made James James. Carlos liked the old James; loved him like a brother. The new James that he got a quick glimpse of that was jumpy and tensed didn't suit well with Carlos. He didn't like this James as much as he did the old one. Something happened to James last night that convinced him to act like this. Carlos thought that maybe it had to do with the challenges and James thought changing his appearance would improve their chances. Or it could be the stress that they had last night and would be feeling for a long time that got to him and made him decide to change.

What ever the reason may be, Carlos knew that James was a puzzle that was hard to solve; both before and after last night. He wasn't gonna figure it out until James decided to tell him why he did what he did. Carlos was fine with that. Everyone was entitled to keeping secrets until they felt like telling them and even if James didn't want to talk, that was fine too. Carlos didn't want to push him.

Pushing away his thoughts of James, Carlos stepped out of the car; walking as slowly as he could over to the apartment building that held his target. Carlos was gonna feel more horrible if he wasted his time in the car and his target slipped out when he was lost in his thoughts. Carlos made his way through the lobby, walking up the stairs towards the sixth floor; worried that if he waited for the elevator that he would bolt and run due to the lack of mobility and his thoughts of how hard this was gonna be creeping back into his mind.

As he passed each floor, Carlos felt his head start to beat in extreme pain. He was sure that the poison was all gone from his body, but that didn't mean that he still wouldn't be in pain. It's only been a few hours, he wasn't gonna be fully healed yet. This headache he had was just making the climb all the more tough for him and with each step, he found himself half-turning to go back to the BTR mobile and start over again. He made it to the destination floor, the room he was told the target was in being the first door on his left. Carlos found himself raising his hand to the door, dangling it in front of the wooden door that hid his target.

'I can just knock, wait for him to come out, and shoot. That's the easy way to do it, right?' Carlos asked himself as he let his hand fall and sway by his hip, losing his nerve to knock on the door.

'Or I can knock, wait for him to open, talk and tell him why I have to do this and shoot. No! That'll only make me feel worse… if that's possible.' Carlos didn't even kill the guy yet, but he was already feeling the sorrow and guilt he knew was gonna come the moment he fired.

'Why did it have to be me? I could do anything else. I would do anything else, but this? I can't do it. I can't just kill someone.' Carlos felt ashamed of himself. He got the guts; he got the nerve to do it, but then lost it when he was so close.

'I'm sorry Logan. I'm sorry Katie. I'm sorry Mama Knight. I can't do this.' Carlos felt like a horrible family member. He felt completely worthless and degraded for not being able to man up and do something. He took poison with no second thought. He should be able to do this.

Carlos was about to turn and leave when he heard a voice. A mocking voice called out to him in his head. There was no sign of life in the hallway so Carlos knew that it had to be coming from his head, although it was hard to hear with the headache that he had. Carlos was starting to worry that some of the poison stayed and was starting to circulate back into his system.

'_Backing out baby?_' the voice sounded like a mix of anger, disappointment, and amusement. Carlos lowered his head at the accusation coming from the voice in his head, although he was sure that it sounded less like an accusation and more like a truth. He was about to back out like a baby. '_Can you live with yourself knowing Logan and Kendall's family will die because of you?_' Carlos lowered his head so he was staring at his shoes. '_Kendall and James can do all of their challenges and you can do all but this one. What if you need this piece? What if this is the key to finding them? You'll have gotten them killed and risked Kendall and James' lives for nothing. Will you be able to live with yourself?_'

"No…" Carlos spoke out loud for the first time since he arrived here, his voice low and hollow from the long period of silence that he had with himself. "I don't want Kendall and James to risk their lives for nothing. I don't want them to go through hell just because I was a baby…" Carlos bit his lip, tears falling down his face. "I don't want Logan and Kendall's family to die." His voice squeaked as he started crying. He knocked on the door. "I can do this. I can do this for them. I can be brave and strong." The weight of the gun seemed to intensify as his heart started to hammer in his chest, beating against his ribcage. "I can do it."

…

Kendall was not in a pleasant mood. First he woke up to get into a fight with that asshole Frankie about the challenges; secondly, James was overreacting to him asking what happened at his last challenge; and thirdly, he got into another argument with Frankie over letting Carlos go off to kill someone. The combined stress sent anger and annoyance throughout his veins.

Kendall was sitting on the edge of his bed, his head buried in his hands as he thought about what Carlos must be going through right now. Kendall didn't want to imagine what his nice innocent friend must be going through and what he must be feeling at the thought of killing someone. Carlos didn't have it in him to kill someone. He didn't even have the heart to do anything remotely bad. He cried when his mom vacuumed the dust bunnies for Gods sake.

Kendall looked around the room that he shared with James, hoping that something in here can give him an answer on what to do. It was already bad enough to him that he couldn't help his mother, sister, or best friend and he didn't want to be worthless to Carlos either. He stood up and started strolling over to where James' clothes from the previous night laid, his curiosity of his friend's quest to get the antidote taking him over. James' pants had strands of hair on it, possibly from when he shaved his head the previous night. His shirt was clean of any and all strands of hair; James must've having taken it off when he decided to get rid of his hair.

A red spot on James' white V-neck caught Kendall's attention. It was small, but noticeable if one glanced at the white shirt for more than a second. It was a blood stain. Why was there blood on James' shirt, especially because it was his favorite lucky white V-neck? James would do anything to keep his shirt in top shape. He wouldn't let a small blood stain get anywhere near it. What happened last night?

"Kendall?" Kendall turned his head. Speak of the devil. James' voice echoed out from the kitchen. Kendall abandoned James' clothes, leaving them where they were before he stepped out of the room, the questions he had for James taking a backseat so he could see what he wanted.

He stepped outside to see James drinking a cup of soda, leaning against the base of the counter. The girls and the Wilson family were nowhere in sight. Kendall was about to ask him where they were before James pointed his finger towards the window, the pool being visible outside the rectangular glass. Kendall nodded, grateful that the asshole Frankie wasn't anywhere near him. He didn't want to deal with him so soon after the argument the two of them just finished having.

James downed the rest of the soda, "I was worried. Thought you might've died in there or something." The smile that crossed his face showed that James was just messing around. James tossed the cup into the sink. "You calmed down now after that show that you just had?"

Kendall frowned slightly, "Are you taking his side over mine?" Kendall was shocked that James, one of his best friends, was taking the side of a stranger over him. It greatly appalled him to no end. After everything they've been through, all the pain and misery they saved each other from, he was taking the side of a stranger over him.

James frowned alongside him, which made him look terrifying. It was then that Kendall noticed that without his hair, James looked like a dangerous man. The face he was giving made Kendall step back slightly.

"No. I'm not." James folded his arms across his chest. "You do have to let Carlos make his own choices. If he didn't think he could do it, he wouldn't have left to go do the challenge. He went. He feels like he should do this and hat he can do this. I'll admit," James shrugged. "He didn't have to be an asshole to you about it, but he does have points."

Kendall groaned, not in annoyance but because he knew James was right. "But after Carlos almost died… it's just… I don't know. I don't want him to get hurt again. What if the person he has to kill is crazy? What if that person kills him before he gets the courage to do it?"

"Fear." James started to say. "The fear that holds you back from doing what you have to do will get you killed if you let it devour you." Kendall was confused at what he was saying. "Carlos knows what has to be done. Carlos knows that he has to do this. He knows that doing this will get us closer to getting Logan and your family back. He might not want to do it, but he's a smart man. He knows what has to be done."

Kendall nodded, knowing that James' words had truth. Carlos was a smart man. He knew that doing this will get them closer to finding their family and ending this nightmare that they were pulled into. They all had to play a part to ending it, Carlos included. Kendall might not like it, but he knew that if they wanted this over and done with, with their family back with them and the killer in jail; Carlos had to help. It couldn't just be him and James.

"Thanks James," Kendall nodded in appreciation as he went to the fridge to get a bottle of water. "Can I ask you a question?" James gave him a smirk that said 'No duh'. Kendall smirked back as he twisted the lid off of the bottle. "About last night…" James twisted his head so his eyes were looking anywhere but Kendall. "Your challenges… What were they? I never got the chance to ask you what they were in detail."

James seemed to grow uncomfortable at the mention of the challenges, leaning further away from Kendall, running a hand through the rough exterior of his bald head. James sighed before he collected his thoughts on what he went through last night. James ignored the yelling and screaming of the deceased Otis as he began to tell the story of his quest last night for two pieces of the puzzle.

"My first one was to get stabbed by many small needles." Kendall nodded, remembering the small marks that were now left on James' chest when he took his shirt off last night in the hospital waiting room. "I almost got hit in vital points many times. I can't tell you how much I was scared that I was gonna die. I almost got hit in my neck, heart, and lungs many times before I was allowed to leave after getting the piece." James looked over to the top of the counter, where the four pieces of paper that they achieved last night laid. The puzzle was close to being one-fifth of the way solved. They would match them up when they had them all.

Kendall nodded at the conclusion of James' first challenge. "What about the second?" Kendall didn't miss how James frowned slightly and clutched a portion of his head. It was then Kendall noticed that James had a small scar on his head. While the rest of his head had some strands of hair growing back, that one piece he was clutching was as bald as a newborn baby. The many questions that Kendall had pushed back in his mind had come back front and center. "James? What happened?"

James stopped clutching the baldest portion of his head, sighing through his nose as he ran his hand back across his head. "Nothing of importance…" he tried to get Kendall to stop asking, which had the blonde frowning once again as he glanced at his friend's face and his posture.

James used to be all confident and full of charisma, proclaiming to be the best at what he did and he would dominate the charts. Kendall loved that about his friend. He loved that he could remain so confident no matter what happened and came his way. But, looking at the slightly hardened and lost face of this new James Diamond, he didn't see any of that confidence or feel any of that charisma that James was known for. Instead, all Kendall saw was guilt and a posture that just screamed tension that was ready to over burst. James might've just told him that nothing of importance happened last night, but Kendall knew he was lying. James Diamond didn't just shave his head for the hell of it.

Kendall shook his head. "Don't lie to me James. Not with all of the shit that we have to deal with. Don't give me that shit about nothing important happening last night." James frowned, angry at being called out on about what he had to go through last night. "You shaved your head…"

"And what of it?" James growled, his patience running thin. Kendall was visibly shocked at his friend's growling before he regained his composure.

"You don't just do that. You love your hair and how you look. You wouldn't just shave your head for the hell of it." James looked away, knowing that he had been caught on that. Kendall sighed. "I'm not trying to look like a priding douche; I just want to know why one of my best friends is acting like this?" Kendall did his best to look sympathetic to James, knowing that what happened to him last night had to have been bad enough to change him so much in the quick span of a few hours.

James sighed, "The dogs were angry. They were scary and almost ripped me apart many times. I didn't know what to do…" James' voice grew very distant as he got pulled back into the terror that he lived through last night with the dogs.

"James?"

"I didn't know what to do. I did what I had to do to get out of there." James wasn't even looking at Kendall anymore as he remembered his actions of the previous night. He glanced to the two guns that were resting by the four pieces of paper, the third one, the one he used, gone with Carlos as the boy took it for his challenge.

Kendall didn't know what James was blabbering on about or why he was staring at the guns with an intense look of guilt on his face. Was he so upset because he killed animals? Was that the reason why he was so jumpy and tensed? Kendall didn't know James was such an animal lover.

James was gripping his bald head in a death grip, ranting to himself as if Kendall wasn't even in the room with him. James walked around in a hurried motion as he paced from the kitchen to the living room. "I did what I had to do." He repeated as he collapsed on the couch, still holding his head in a death grip. "I did what I had to do. I'm not a monster." James felt hot tears brim behind his eyes as he replayed Otis' screams in his head. The sound of the older man yelling and screaming as he was ripped apart played in his head at such a high volume that he missed Kendall's questions of if he was okay and if he needed help. James didn't want to burden his friend with the horrid deed that he had committed. Even if it was a challenge, he didn't want Kendall to know the truth yet. He didn't want anyone to know about him killing Otis until he was ready to tell it.

Kendall was shocked as he watched James pretty much lose his mind. He was a mess as he recalled what he did last night. Kendall's never seen James act like this before about anything. Seeing him like this showed him that what ever he went through last night, it had way more to do than killing dogs that were trying to kill him. Way more.

Kendall walked over to put his hand on James' shoulder, "James-" Kendall was roughly shoved off as James grabbed his wrist and pushed him away, a glare settled tightly in James' eyes as he stared down Kendall.

"Don't. Touch. Me." He growled out in slow and aggravated rhythm, his hands now balled into fists. He didn't know why he did it, but seeing Kendall try and help him angered him. He didn't want Kendall's help when he wanted to get rid of his guilt himself. Plus, Kendall liked to think he can do anything he wanted to do and solve any problem that he or they were faced with, but James knew that Kendall couldn't help him. Kendall couldn't help him because he didn't know how it felt to kill someone, even if James knew he would try as best as he could. James didn't want fake understanding. He wanted real understanding of the guilt he was feeling and he didn't want Kendall's help until the blonde knew exactly what he was dealing with.

Kendall stumbled back at the growl that erupted from James' lips, shocked that his friend would act like that to him when he was just trying to help him. The glare that was in his eyes combined with the gritted teeth that James was showing made Kendall think that for a second, just one, that this wasn't his friend James. It was some imposter that had taken his name and was just punking him. The James that he knew and grew up with would never ever act like this. Ever. He wouldn't get angry at his friends for trying to help him.

'James…' Kendall thought as he watched James' glare intensify as he walked past him. 'Just what happened to you? I feel like I don't know you anymore.'

A knock on the door stopped James' walking as he stopped right next to Kendall, towering over him with the inch or two that James had on him. Kendall could only see the side of James' head and the corner of his eye while James stared ahead at the door. Kendall could've sworn that as James walked to get the door that he saw tears welded up in the back of his friend's eyes. Kendall was really worried for his friend now, not sure how he can help him if James wouldn't even talk to him.

James opened the door and gasped at the person behind it.

…

The door opened, revealing a man with a suit and tie on. Carlos could see the smile that was on his face as he opened the door, which turned concerned when he saw the tear-stained face of Carlos.

"Are you alright, son?" he asked in a concerned tone that could only be used by a father. Carlos kept crying as he looked in the eyes of the man, who was really worried for Carlos despite not knowing who he was. Carlos moved his hand shaking behind his back and pulled out the small silver revolver, the man, Bruce, stepping back in fear. "Take what you want."

Carlos bit his cheek to stop himself from bawling.

"I got money…" Bruce was looking for someway to stop Carlos from pulling the trigger and Carlos hoped that he did find a way. The guilt and apprehension that he felt in his chest almost made him fall down to the floor in a bawling mess. "I got a lot of money." Carlos wished that it was as simple as him just wanting money. He really did. But it wasn't. It was so much deeper than that.

Carlos' lip shook as his hands shook widely, almost dropping the gun as he walked two steps into Bruce's apartment; his gun still raised and pointed to the man's face. He felt like a horrible monster for this. He felt like an asshole and lunatic.

"I got kids," Carlos almost gasped and would've if he wasn't crying so much. "A little boy and a little girl."

Carlos was forced into thinking of last night when he went to Frankie's house. He had the same gun in his hand as he talked to Frankie, who had a little girl and little boy that called him daddy. He thought of the scared face of Katelyn as she asked Carlos if he was gonna kill her dad. The way her small chocolate brown eyes were worried that she was gonna lose the only parent that she had left. Carlos was appalled that he was forced into a horrible scenario with a man that was probably as good a dad as Frankie was. Despite him being an ass, Carlos knew that he was a good man deep down.

For a second, Bruce's face shifted to Frankie's and almost made Carlos turn and run. But Bruce's voice pulled him back in.

"Please." Bruce was crying now too with his hands raised. "You don't have to do this."

Carlos thought of Katelyn's scared face and thought if Bruce's little girl and boy would have the same look of horror on theirs when they saw their dad dead by the front door of their house. Were they here? Probably not because they would've came out by now when Bruce opened the door. Carlos stopped biting his cheek and let the bawls come out his mouth as he kept the gun firmly in his hand and pointed to Bruce.

Carlos let out one giant wail as he did it.

As he pulled the trigger.

BAM!

Carlos fell to his knees when Bruce shot back, the bullet lodged under his left eye. Carlos felt the sickness that he felt in the car come back up and made him vomit on the floor next to Bruce. Bad enough he killed him, now he was puking in his house on his floor. Carlos let the tears fall as he struggled to stand up and walk out of the apartment, leaving behind a bullet case, dead body, and vomit as the clues as to what happened here.

Carlos couldn't concentrate on the ride back to his apartment. He had a hard time driving due to the tears falling from his face and the sickness that he felt come back up. Carlos swallowed it down, intending on going crazy with throwing up when he got back home. Bruce's dead body flashed through his head as his dead surprised eyes stayed open after Carlos had fired. He had to look the man in the eyes as he killed him. He was a murderer.

But he did it for Logan, Katie, and Mama Knight. He did it for the three of them. The thought didn't do much to settle his horrible stomach as he pulled into the parking lot of the Palm Woods, rushing up to the nearest trash bin to let out the contents of his stomach. He cried and cried the whole way up and to the door to 2J, knocking on it for Kendall or James to answer. He saw Lucy and the rest down by the pool and ignored them as Katelyn called him to show what kind of ice cream her dad got her. He couldn't look at her or Frankie. If he did, he would remember Bruce's face as he shot him.

James' bald head was the last thing he saw before he couldn't see anything anymore due to the tears that fell from his face. Carlos fell into James' arms and cried, James soothing him as best he could while Kendall ran to get tissues for the boy's running nose. As James talked, Carlos could've sworn he heard him say this:

"I know how it feels, buddy. I know how it feels to kill someone."

But Carlos assumed that his mind was just making him go crazy with guilt to try and make him feel better about what he did.

End of Chapter 12 of Heavy Blood

Damn, poor Carlos. He's a mess now after what he did.

I don't know if I liked the Carlos killing Bruce scene or the Kendall/James scene better. I like both for different reasons. The Carlos scene was amazing to me because of how hard it was for him to do it and I liked writing about his guilt and hesitation to do it and the aftermath of it. But the Kendall/James scene is a foreshadow for so much future stuff that I can't help but to love it.

How would you feel if I turned this into a Kames story? After writing that scene, I kinda want to go places with them. If not, then I'll just stick with the bromance.

We're gonna backtrack slightly next time in the beginning. We'll see the girls and Frankie's family as Carlos came running back into the Palm Woods after killing Bruce and then we'll continue on from there for more Carlos angst fun and the Kendall's second challenge. He's the only BTR boy that hasn't killed someone yet and we'll see how he handles it next time.

More tension will build between Kendall/James next time. Like I said, this is just the beginning for them and next time it starts to go full swing.

Next Time: Guilt


	13. Guilt

Disclaimer: Don't own Big Time Rush

AN:** I want to give a huge thanks to everyone who reviewed last chapter. They brought a smile to my face as I read them. I decided to possibly turn this into a Kames. As I re-read the last few chapters, I saw that there was potential there. With James going mad and Kendall wanting to help, people said that it would be good for the story if I went down that route and I find myself agreeing slightly. Especially after this next chapter, which shows James getting darker, there is gonna be more tension between them. **

**Kendall angst this time. It's his turn to feel some pain and whatnot. He hasn't felt any since chapter 4. His break is over.**

**Enjoy**

Chapter 13- Guilt

Camille sat in her usual chair down by the Palm Woods pool as she glanced around at her small group. After the argument between Kendall and Frankie, Camille had thought that it was a good idea for the two of them to get space from each other before something bad happened that ended in someone getting hurt. Kendall had retreated into his room and Camille had taken that as her chance to get the other angry man out of the apartment and to somewhere where he can get his head cleared. Camille might've not known him well, but Frankie Wilson seemed to scream angry man that would hurt you if he was angry and you approached him and she didn't want anyone getting hurt for something stupid. James had said he was gonna stay back, not really up for leaving the apartment yet.

Camille had been confused but let it go. James didn't seem like himself since they saw him today. Besides the obvious, his hair being shaved, his personality seems to have done a complete one-eighty. Gone was all the confidence that always leaked off of James when he spoke or did something. It was gone and replaced with the tension that burned all over his features. His eyes were lost, his hands were fidgeting a lot, he spazzed out when Kendall asked him if he was okay, and he looked really guilty. Camille had seen James guilty before. She had seen it when they kissed when she and Logan dated for the first time. That look of regret and shame on his face was the worst look she has ever seen on him and now it seemed light compared to the way that he looked when they walked in and saw him this morning.

Camille was good at reading people, it being a talent that she was very proud of, but it wasn't working when she had examined James when they saw him. She didn't see why he was so guilty-looking and so tensed and didn't have a clue. Before this morning, the last time that she had saw him was when he and Kendall were having their moment in the hospital waiting room about how he could save Carlos' life. That had been the last time she's seen him with hair as well. She didn't know what was going on with James, but knew that it couldn't have been good. She found herself glancing up at the window where you can see inside of 2J on the chance she could see what James or Kendall was doing.

She was brought back out of her thoughts when she heard laughing coming from the seat next to her. Jo was leaning back in a chair with Kate settled in-between her legs, licking an ice cream cone that her dad had bought her from the small stand by the door entrance. Camille watched as people glanced at Frankie in confusion and even with some fear. He did have a scowl on his face as he stared up at the sky, only looking down when his daughter called to him or when his brother started fussing. They were looking at her as if she can explain to them why he was here, who he was, or why he was so miserable looking. Camille didn't think telling the kids about Logan and Kendall's family disappearance was any of her business. Even if she and Logan were dating, she didn't think it was up to her who to tell about him being kidnapped. She was still trying to process the thought herself.

She couldn't believe that Logan had gotten captured by a serial killer. It was a nightmare come true. Knowing that her boyfriend was out there in the hands of a serial killer made her want to crawl up in a ball and cry her eyes out. She did enough of that last night. Was he okay? Was he with Kendall's mom and sister? Camille was worried for her boyfriend's safety. No one survived the killer's kidnapping. Everyone that ever was taken by this guy all ended up dead with their bodies cut up and rearranged. Camille found herself glancing to Frankie, who was feeding Nate a bottle as he glanced blankly at the pool water. How traumatized was he after everything he's been through? He lost his eye because of this guy. He had come so close to ending the nightmare for everyone but failed. Was he thinking about that? Did he even realize that he could've been a hero for the entire city if he would've found this guy? Frankie didn't even talk about his fight against the killer, only glaring and flipping off whoever asked him.

She really hoped Kendall, James, and Carlos stopped this guy because not only would it be hard to accept that Logan was dead, but she couldn't handle seeing her friends like Frankie. Broken, angry, and ready to lash out against the world.

She heard Jo giggle when Katelyn offered some of her ice cream to her, taking a small lick of the cone before handing the treat back to the little girl. Camille let a small smile cross her face as she watched her best friend interact with the daughter of their ally. Camille hasn't seen Jo this happy since her breakup with Kendall. This little girl was bringing some light to her friend's life after her small setback. Jo was playing with the girl like if she was her sister, plus the little girl was drawn to her for some reason. It was a friendship made in heaven, despite the fifteen year difference between the two.

Camille turned her head to see Frankie glance at Jo and his daughter while trying to ignore what Lucy was trying to talk or ask him about. Judging by the look of annoyance along with his middle finger extended in the air, it had to be a question about the challenges or the killer in some way. She didn't miss the stare that Jo and Frankie shared when she caught him staring at her. She watched Jo give him that smile that most guys here gushed over while Katelyn waved enthusiastically to her dad.

"Hi Daddy!" she said in a voice that drew attention. Very rarely here do you hear someone call for their dad. Camille watched Frankie ignore Jo's smile and gave all his attention to his daughter. He didn't care that most people were staring at him weirdly. He must've been used to the stares by now since he didn't pay them much mind.

"Hey sweetie," he waved back while still holding his brother securely in his arms. Camille saw the stares of some of the female occupants of the Palm Woods stare at him with stares that Camille knew and hated. A single father who actually loved his kids was actually pretty attractive to some girls. Camille also knew that the girls here that liked that were some of the worse people that she knew. Camille would've felt a need to protect Frankie and his family from these girls who partied too much and did too much drugs, knowing that Katelyn didn't deserve that around her so young after everything she's already been through, but Frankie's dark aura would be enough to drive people away. If Camille and the rest didn't need him or see a softer side of him, they would be scared of him too.

"Thank you for the ice cream!" Katelyn licked the cone again before she settled back into Jo's legs. "Jo's my new best friend!"

Camille couldn't help it, she gushed. "Awwww!" she watched as Jo blushed a light shade of red. "Can I be your friend too?"

"Okay!" Katelyn was excited at having two new friends. She looked to Lucy, "You wanna be my friend too?" Katelyn gave a cute pout. "Please?"

Lucy couldn't help but smile. "Okay. I'll be your friend."

"Yay!" Katelyn would've clapped her hands if she wasn't holding an ice cream cone. "Daddy, I have three new friends. That's how old I am." She realized before she erupted into a small fit of giggles.

"You have the cutest little girl ever," Jo wrapped her arms around the little girl tenderly, putting a small kiss on her head. She meant for it to be a friendly gesture, but it got the opposite effect she was expecting to come. While she expected Frankie to laugh or smile, he glared and growled instead.

"Don't. Kiss. My. Daughter." He growled out each word menacingly and venomously. Even though he was still holding Nate and feeding him the bottle, he still looked as angry and as dangerous as he would've without Nate to lower the threat level.

Katelyn was confused, "Why are you mad, Daddy?" she got scared. "Did I do something wrong? Can't Jo be my friend?"

Frankie sighed before he closed his one eye in thought. Camille knew he wanted to say no. That look he had was proof enough and everyone else could see it too. But he didn't want to make his daughter upset after the pain that she's been through over the last few weeks. Camille thought he didn't want to be that parent that made his kids cry and she was right when he nodded his head at his little girl.

"She can be your friend, baby. Daddy's just… upset about something. It's not your fault. Go play with your friend." He gave an uneasy smile that went over Kate's head.

"Thank you, Daddy." Before she could start talking to Jo, she saw a figure walk from the lobby. "Carlos!" she waved to the hurrying boy. "Wanna see the ice cream my daddy bought me? It's Vanilla." She was really confused when Carlos paid no mind to her. She grew sad again. "Is Carlos mad at me?"

"He better not be. No one gets angry at my baby." Frankie stood up to follow after Carlos, adjusting his hold on Nate to burp him when he started fussing. "Once I finish burping Nate, he's getting an ass-kicking." He did not intend for that to come out that way.

"Is the big bad boy not so tough after all?" Jo smirked at the blushing face of Frankie. "You gonna protect your baby from the big mean Carlos?" she didn't know why she was teasing Frankie. The words were just coming out of her mouth. She didn't know why she was so easy-going around a guy who was as dark as the night sky with no moon, although that idea was thrown out the window as she watched him play the protective daddy card for his little girl. Maybe he wasn't so dark and mean after all. Well… not when it came to his kids at least. It didn't matter that Nate was his brother or not, the way Frankie acted to him, he might as well have been his son.

"Shut up." He mumbled. Jo couldn't help but smile at the cute family as he grabbed his daughter's hand after telling her to come to him and started heading to 2J, ready to give Carlos a piece of his mind.

Jo felt extreme pity for Carlos when Frankie got to him.

"I feel so bad for Carlos," Camille laughed. "He's in for quite the headache."

"Yep." Jo giggled. "Yes he is."

"Guys?" Lucy broke in. "Don't you remember where Carlos went?" Jo and Camille's faces paled when they did. "Yes… he just came back from killing someone." One second, two seconds, and three seconds passed before they ran after Frankie to help stop him from yelling at Carlos, knowing that he must be in shock at what he did.

…

No.

It was worse than that.

Carlos was bawling as James held him on the couch. Kendall was standing looking in shock with Frankie leaning against the counter to the kitchen, having lost all anger after seeing Carlos the way he was. Lucy and Camille were staring at the boy in shock while Jo provided a distraction to Katelyn and Nate in Kendall and James' room, playing with the little girl while rocking the sleeping infant.

"Carlos… are you okay, buddy?" Kendall asked the question that was on the edge of everyone's mind. Carlos was bawling his eyes out while trying to get out a word from his mouth. Every time his mouth opened to get a word out, sobs escaped instead and he buried his head in James' shoulder. "It's okay." Kendall didn't know how his friend must be feeling. If Kendall was being honest with himself, he thought Carlos wouldn't be able to do it. He didn't think his sweet friend would be able to take a man's life. He didn't think Carlos had it in him to do it. But he was proven wrong. Carlos had done it but his act was taking an emotional toll on him.

James unexpectedly glared at Kendall, which got confused looks from Lucy and Camille. "You don't know how he feels, Kendall. It is not easy to take someone's life." James did his best to let out the knowing tone he felt crept up his throat. He didn't want to let it accidently slip out that he had taken a man's life too. He didn't want the looks of pity and sympathy that Lucy, Camille, and Kendall were giving Carlos. James didn't feel like he deserved it. Unlike him, Carlos had given his killed victim a quick and painless death. James had shot his in the leg and left him to get torn apart by dogs. James didn't deserve anything like sympathy for his actions. If anything, he only deserved pain and misery for the rest of his life.

Kendall raised an eyebrow at him. That was the third time today James had snapped at him and Kendall was truthfully getting sick and tired of it. He didn't know what his friend's problem was, but Kendall was curious as to what it was. James was looking unhinged and Kendall didn't want his friend to push him away because of what ever was taking a toll on him.

Carlos jumped in, finally getting a sentence out. "I-i-it's f-f-fine, James. H-h-he just wants t-to help." He stuttered like a mess. He sniffed really loudly before he buried his head in his hands, but not before giving his phone to James with a picture on the screen. The next piece to the puzzle was on his phone screen, sent to him by the killer after he killed Bruce. Carlos couldn't even look at it, his mind overtaken with guilt at his actions. James took the phone from his hands, ushering Kendall to plug it into their computer and print out the picture from Carlos' phone. Tracing the number back wasn't a good idea, since the number was now disconnected when James tried to call it. Kendall printed the picture out, using a pair of scissors by the counter to cut out the picture in the middle, placing it with all of the other ones that were on the table. That was five down, ten more to go.

Frankie looked rather impressed when Kendall put the next piece of the puzzle down. They were moving at an incredibly fast pace. When he was stuck doing these challenges, he had to factor in his kids into the equation and his injuries due to them being more severe than anything that Kendall and his friends were encountering. The only source of injuries that these guys were getting was the cuts from the glass challenge, James' shaved head, and Carlos' guilt. While guilt was bad, it was easier to deal with in a race against a time to save your family. He was only on the second challenge by Day Two and these guys were about to go onto challenge six. He might've still not liked Kendall and his attitude, but he did hold respect for him and his friend… except James. He didn't like James. He reminded him too much of his deceased friend who tried to kill him. James was almost a cardboard cutout of him. Frankie didn't want to feel anger towards James, but the similarities and his anger to his dead friend prevented him from doing so.

"Listen," he spoke, sighing at the compassion that he was about to show to these people. Carlos was a nice guy. He didn't deserve to feel this guilt and anger at himself for what he did. "Carlos, I know how bad it feels to kill someone. I was in your shoes a few weeks ago. It hurts the first time. Don't take your guilt as a sign you are bad."

Kendall raised an eyebrow, curious as to where this guy was going with this. If he made Carlos feel worse, help or not, Kendall was kicking him out. James was also curious as to where this guy was going. James sensed the knowing tone in his voice and knew that he knew what he was talking about. He would've liked to hear a speech like this from Kendall instead of some guy they barely know, but hey, can't always get what you want.

Frankie ran his hand over his back pocket, pulling out his revolver. Kendall almost jumped, but relaxed when he placed it on his lap. "If anything, your guilt shows that you are a good person. But don't let it overtake you. Don't let your deeds haunt you no matter if they were bad or not," he specifically looked to James at this. "It can get you killed." He warned, placing his revolver back in his back pocket. Carlos knew where he got the bullet now after seeing Frankie pull out the revolver.

James whistled lowly, "Wow. Nice speech. Maybe you aren't a complete douche after all." He didn't miss the warning look he gave him. James gave him an uneasy smile as he stepped up and patted Carlos on the shoulder. "Once you hang around you long enough, you see just how much of a nice guy you are."

"Tolerance." He corrected, avoiding the smirk that Kendall was giving him. "This is all tolerance." He gave Kendall a pointed look. "About what I said to you about your friend, I'm not gonna say I'm sorry for what I said, but I will say sorry for how I said it. To be fair though, you called me an ass first."

Kendall rolled his eyes, sighing as he did. "I guess I should've remembered you lost your family and are prone to act like an ass on occasions." He admitted, feeling guilt for forgetting that Frankie just lost his family to this killer. Kendall had his taken, but he could still get them back. Frankie didn't have that chance anymore and Kendall should've seen how nice he was being by helping him find his family so he and James and Carlos didn't have to go through that pain he was going through. Kendall was beginning to think there was more to Frankie Wilson than meets the eye.

"Truce?" he held his hand out awkwardly, Kendall smirking as he clasped it with his own.

"Truce." He agreed. "No more arguing over stupid stuff. Only when we really have to."

Frankie smirked, "I warn you though. I have a little girl that likes for me to spoil her, so arguing is something that I learned how to do and win."

"Two things wrong with that," Camille held up two fingers. "One, she's a baby, and two, you still let her do what ever she wants." Frankie glared half-heartedly at her for pointing him out.

"Fine, but I had a friend like James here. We argued a lot and I won almost all the time. You'll be in for a challenge when we do have to argue."

Kendall rolled his eyes. "Sure I will."

Carlos gave as big of a smile as he could for the condition he was in. "Thank you. I feel a little better." He softened. "Just tell me I won't have to do something like this again." He was almost pleading.

"No. From now on, things only get more weird than morally tough. It still won't be a walk in the park and will be as hard as these first two rows of challenges, but it'll be easier on you." Carlos and surprisingly James sighed in relief. Frankie glanced at the box. "Before Kendall goes out for his kill, let's have a little discussion on rows three, four, and five." He got comfy in one of the stools before he continued. "Row Three is what I like to call 'The Endurance Row'. You guys will have to endure a bunch of pain that will leave marks on you for the rest of your life." Everyone looked at him, which made him almost laugh. "I'm not showing you mine." The shrugged, understanding why he wouldn't want to.

"Row Four is 'The Vehicle Row'. One of you will have to drive a car against traffic, navigate a train, or a boat. It's actually a lot scarier than I'm making it sound. I had the car challenge," he shivered slightly. "It's not pretty. As for the train and boat, it still isn't that easy."

"What about Row Five?" Kendall asked.

Frankie grew slightly uncomfortable. "I don't know." He slowly spoke. "After the fourth row of challenges, things happened and my best friend died… along with the mother of my child." He glanced to the closed door where his daughter and brother were with Jo. Guilt surfaced its way into his chest as he remembered the final words that he had said to both of them.

"_I love you._"

"_This was you! Not me!_"

He almost cried when he remembered the final look on both of their faces. His daughter's mother, Elena, was smiling up at him as life faded away from her eye while his best friend looked shocked as life left his body. No matter which he thought of, he wanted to cry and hate himself for what happened. He didn't sleep well at night because of it.

"And after they died you couldn't do the last challenges all on your own." James didn't ask. He said it as a statement, having already figured out what happened. It was pretty obvious what had happened. These challenges were difficult to do. Just one was enough to change him and Carlos and make them both feel guilty. Doing three on your own with no help from anyone didn't sound like a pleasant idea to James. Pity formed as he stared at the slightly saddened face of the supposed hardass.

"I threw away all pieces we collected and prepared myself and my kids for the eventual sight of our dead family members. It was a hard week for me." He had so much blood on his hands and so much guilt on his conscious that the one-eyed survivor didn't know why he hadn't gone crazy. After a little thought, he remembered. It was the small blonde girl and infant boy in the room behind him.

Kendall and the rest felt so bad. No one deserved this kind of pain, not even someone as sick as the Painter Killer. The guilt and pain that this single father was feeling was horrible to look at. They couldn't imagine the way it must've felt. Kendall, James, and Carlos had more determination now to succeed. Both to not have to handle this pain that Frankie was feeling and to allow the man to get some revenge. He deserved it.

"Does someone need a hug?" James held his arms out with a smirk on his face, almost laughing afterwards at the annoyed look that crossed Frankie's face.

"Shut up… Enough about me and my problems, Kendall here still needs to go and kill his victim." Frankie eyed James slowly afterwards for some bizarre reason. It was highly doubtful James was Kendall's target, but Frankie kept eyeing James every time he talked about killing someone and the second row. It was starting to get suspicious.

James nodded, keeping his eyes trained on Frankie's one. "Yep… He does." James knew what he was doing. He was trying to get James caught for what he did. He already said that all but one challenge was to kill someone, but that made no sense. Why would all but one be about killing someone? That made no sense. Frankie bought him some time to confess what he did by lying, but now he was trying to get him caught. James didn't want to tell anyone about him killing Otis. That was gonna stay a secret. If Frankie kept trying to get him caught, James didn't know what he was gonna have to do to keep him quiet.

Kendall noticed that awkward staredown that was transpiring between James and Frankie, so decided to jump in. "Let's see what this freak has in store for me." Swiftly pulling his next paper from the box while placing the silver gun he was sent in his back pocket, Kendall read the challenge.

_Kendall Knight,_

_Sorry to tell you that you'll have to take a life. I didn't want you to have to do it like your friends, but I don't wanna seem like I'm playing favorites. Don't worry; the guy you have to kill is someone that no one will miss. He's a drug dealer that lives at 2195 Jones Street in apartment 5H. Take a picture and send it to this number:_

_555-254-6270_

_It'll be okay._

Kendall was stumped, looking over at the letter again. Like your friends? As in both? But only Carlos killed someone and Frankie said that all but one challenge was to kill someone. Did James kill someone too? Kendall didn't know, but knew this. One of them was lying. Whether Frankie lied to him before or the killer made a typo, one of them wasn't telling the truth. Kendall really wanted to believe that Frankie was telling the truth, but this was the second time that the killer played the nice guy card when it came to him. He didn't seem to ever lie to him when he made his letters. He was honest before. Kendall was really confused at to what to believe.

But it kinda made sense. James acting weird, shaving his head, snapping at him when he asked about what happened at James' second challenge, and the tension Kendall felt around him. It all made sense. James did kill someone and lied about it. Kendall couldn't believe it. James lied to him. James Diamond, his best friend, lied to him about something so serious.

"James?" the pretty boy looked to him. "Did you kill someone?" all eyes were on James now as he looked surprised. "I'm not mad if you did. I know that if you did, you had a very good reason for doing so. Please. Don't lie to me about this. It's okay." Carlos turned to his friend, shocked at Kendall's words.

"James did tell me when I came back that he knows how it feels to kill someone." James cursed loudly, his loud shout of 'Shit' causing Jo and the kids to come out to see what was going on. James ran a hand down his face to try and calm his nerves at the eyes that were on him.

"James…" Lucy whispered in shock.

"Fine! I did! I had to! I did it to save Carlos' life!" He looked to his traumatized friend before he glared at Frankie. "You got me caught you bastard! I didn't want to tell anyone and you ruined that!" he accused loudly, pointing a finger at him with his mind feeding him thoughts of grabbing the black gun that was sent to him by the killer. James' hope of keeping his murder of Otis secret was now thrown out the window. He couldn't lead up to it; he couldn't drag it out like he wanted to anymore. He was now forced to admit what he did and now he looked like a bad guy by the way he was acting because of it. He wasn't a monster. He did it to save Carlos' life. He was a hero.

Frankie glared, "Hey. I didn't say anything that got you caught. Didn't you listen to your friend? The killer sold you out by saying 'friends'. Don't blame me. I lied for you before by saying all except one. I saw how haunted you were and figured you wanted some time." He defended himself. This was why he didn't try to be nice to people. It always blew up in his face and made the person he was trying to help get angry at him.

James had no comeback, settling for a glare that shook everyone to their core. Did James look like this when he killed whoever he killed? Did he look as scary and threatening as he did now? James growled, moving to the kitchen counter to grab the gun that was sent to him. "I'll be at the BTR mobile. Come down when you finish talking shit about me." James scoffed before he headed for the front door, opening it and slamming it close with more force than necessary, making Katelyn jump.

"Why is James mad?" she asked, looking to her dad for answers. "Why is he mad at you daddy?"

Frankie sighed, "Its okay, baby. Its grown-ups stuff. You don't have to worry about it. Stay with Camille for a minute. Daddy has to talk to Jo."

"Are you gonna ask her to be my m-"

"Go with Camille!" he interrupted before she could finish, hoping that no one caught to what she was about to say. Frankie finally figured out why his daughter was so drawn to the other blonde girl. She looked like her dead mother. She probably thought that Jo was her second mother or something like that and felt that connection that she had with her mother. He didn't want to see his baby disappointed when he had to tell her that Jo wasn't gonna be her new mom. Kate frowned before she nodded and listened to her dad. He looked to the guys, "I'm coming with you guys. You might need help when that time bomb known as James goes off."

"Hey. Can we please refrain from calling my best friend a time bomb?" Kendall warned, not liking where Frankie was going with this.

"I knew someone like him and it didn't end well. Trust me, James, the way he's acting now, is a time bomb of guilt and tension just waiting to burst. And when he does go off, you'll need help." Frankie led Jo away so they could talk in private, not wanting to say what he was gonna say in front of a group of people.

Kendall and Carlos frowned before they gave in and nodded. They didn't believe him, but they figured they could use more help. Just because James killed someone because he had too didn't mean he was a time bomb or dangerous… even if he did seem a little unhinged.

Kendall turned to Carlos, "You don't have to come. You already feel bad."

Carlos shook his head, "I need to be there for you. It feels really bad to kill someone and you're gonna want my comfort. Plus… you're my friend and I wanna be there for you." Carlos gave a smile as best as he could with the guilt he still felt in his nerves after killing Bruce. He needed to push his guilt away to be there for Kendall.

"Carlos, I'm telling you, please stay here and rest. Look at you. You're still crying." Carlos touched his cheeks to feel that he was still crying, new tears staining his face every few seconds. "I want you to rest. Please. When I get back and if I feel bad, you can give me a hug." He promised. Carlos didn't want to leave Kendall without his support when he had to kill someone, but he respected his friend's decision to do this on his own. Carlos nodded reluctantly, a nap sounding really good right now.

Kendall turned to Lucy, "Can I trust you to keep an eye on him?"

Lucy rolled her eyes, "Of course. I'll make sure Carlos doesn't play with fire or falls down the stairs or makes a mess." Kendall laughed before he nodded in appreciation for Lucy's compassion to help care and watch over Carlos when he really needed help. Kendall would've loved to do it himself, but he had a job to do. He wanted his sister, mother, and one of his best friends back now and the sooner he did this, the sooner they would be back in his arms and the killer would be in jail and Carlos and James could move on from their actions.

He hoped to have his family whole again soon, both physically and mentally.

…

"What did you want to talk about?"

Jo held the sleeping baby of Frankie in her arms as she stared at the man himself, who was awkwardly running his hand through his hair, his uncovered eye looking anywhere but her. Jo was confused at what he wanted to talk about, but if he was talking to her when he made it clear he tried to avoid contact with anyone; she knew that it had to be big. His bandage that covered his right eye peeked her attention briefly before she looked away after feeling rude for staring at his injury. She was just curious as to what was behind it like she bet a lot of people were.

Frankie sighed, "I'm about to do something I swore I didn't want to do." Was it wrong Jo felt fear right now? No? Good because she was a little scared. "Can… you keep an eye on my little girl and little boy?" He coughed awkwardly. "I'm sure you can see that my daughter is attached to you for some reason."

Jo smiled, whatever fear she had creeping up now gone. "She's so cute."

"Yeah… But seriously, can you watch her? She really likes you. You're the first person outside of our family that she's talked to since… the deaths." Jo wanted to give him a hug, but he wouldn't like that. "I'm…" he struggled to say the next word. "Trusting you to watch my little princess and my baby boy." He groaned when he realized what he just said. "Damn. Now I sound like a wimp."

"You sound cute. Not many single fathers our age love their kids as much as you love yours."

Frankie blushed a really light shade of red. "Yeah… anyway, if anything happens to her or him…" he darkened, all traces of earlier awkwardness and struggling gone and replaced with a threatening sneer and a glare that could bring someone to their knees. It didn't affect Jo because it was the same look her dad gave when someone bothered her. The protective father glare she called it. "You'll regret it faster than you can say 'Damn'." Jo gave a small smile before nodding her head. "Yeah… I'll be back soon, I hope. If she wants to go in the pool, there's a shirt and pair of shorts for her in the bag I have by the door." After they snuck Carlos out of the hospital this morning, they let Frankie stop by his house to get some things for his kids. Katelyn's face when Carlos mentioned the pool was as bright as the sun in summer. "If Nate pukes on his clothes or gets dirty, there's a change of clothes or two for him." Jo was flabbergasted when Frankie gave her a small genuine smile. "Thanks." He thanked before he caught up to the awaiting Kendall, who seemed to have said something that made Frankie mad because he flipped him off before shoving him out of the apartment.

Camille walked up to her once he left, almost greedily taking Nate from Jo. "So… what did Mr. Angry say to you?" Camille almost grinned when she saw the small smile that had crossed Jo's face.

"Just entrusted me to watch his little princess and his baby boy."

"He said that?!"

"Yep."

Camille was looking at Carlos, who was sitting on the couch playing patty-cake with Katelyn with Lucy sitting next to him, wiping his eyes with a napkin when she saw him cry. Camille felt really bad for her friend for feeling so guilty for doing something that he had to do. She was just glad he was finding ways to distract himself from the guilt that wouldn't hurt him in the end. What better way than playing with a cute three year old girl?

"Poor Carlos. That must've been so hard for him." She shared a nod with her friend. "He's always been so sweet and so adorable. I can't imagine him having to do something like that. If it wasn't for that picture he got, I wouldn't believe he did it. I would think his crying was because the corndogs are all gone."

Jo giggled, "Maybe." She looked to Kate. "I'm gonna take her to the pool." She told Camille before she walked to grab the bag that sat on the floor by the door. Jo looked to the little girl after she and Carlos wrapped up their small game of patty-cake. "Katelyn, sweetie, wanna come to the pool with me?"

Kate beamed, "Yes!" she ran off to grab onto Jo's hand before she waved goodbye to the baby in Camille's arms. "Bye Nate! Aunt Katey will be back soon, okay?" Kate was oblivious when she saw how the faces of the older people in the room saddened at hearing that name. She tugged on Jo's hand. "Come on, Jo!"

Jo put a smile on her face for the little girl next to her. "Okay, okay, we're going now." And with that, the two girls headed down to the pool area, leaving Carlos, Lucy, Camille, and Nate in the apartment.

"She is a cutie." Camille broke the silence that had overtaken them for a short moment.

Carlos yawned, "I'm gonna take a small nap."

"You deserve it," Lucy encouraged the Latino boy before he placed his head on the cushion behind him, closing his eyes and trying to let sleep overtake him. "Here. Sleep in your bed. It'll be more comfortable."

"No," he mumbled. "Not until Logan is back in the room with me." Camille let a sad look cross her face before she did her best to wipe it off.

"Fine. Then sleep on the couch like you would a bed. You're gonna get cramps in your neck if you sleep like that."

"Alright," he did as he was told, but was half-asleep while he did it so he put his head on Lucy's lap and let his legs stretch across the couch. "Night guys." Carlos knew he was gonna have nightmares about what happened, but he figured he might as well try get some sleep. At least enough until Kendall and the rest got back from Kendall's challenge. He needed to be rested up to comfort Kendall over what he did.

Camille laughed at Lucy, "Awww. You two look so cute together." She dodged the pillow that Lucy threw at her. "Ummm, I have a baby in my arms you know."

"Yeah… but I know that you wouldn't drop him. Frankie will kill you if you do. And don't say that again."

Camille smirked, "Why? Does Lucy have feelings for Carlos?"

"I'm gonna put my headphones in and ignore you." She followed through and blasted the music that was on her phone, blocking herself off from the outside world.

Camille smiled. "You like him."

…

Kendall stood at the front door of the apartment he was assigned to, his hands balled into fists as he knocked on the door. His gun, which he found out from Frankie was a Colt Python, was ready to fire when the door opened. Kendall didn't know how easy this was gonna be, but he was about to find out. He left James and Frankie in the car, which probably wasn't that good of an idea after the argument that they had in the apartment, but he had no choice. He wanted to do this on his own. If James and Carlos did it on their own, then he could do it on his own as well.

Kendall wasn't looking forward to seeing this drug dealer, but he knew it would be easier than Carlos having to kill an innocent man. Sure this guy wasn't probably the best guy on the planet, but he was innocent in all of the drama that they were dealing with now. Kendall sighed as he heard footsteps on the other side, getting ready to do what he had to do.

The door opened, revealing the man that Kendall had to kill. A white tank-top with blue pajama pants and a scruffy look was what he saw. Yep. This guy was definitely not the cleanest guy Kendall's seen. The smell that hit Kendall when the door opened confirmed that there were drugs involved in his life.

"Yeah?" the man, Brad he was called in the letter, looked Kendall over before he scoffed. "Listen, buddy, I don't have any drugs to give you. You want some, you gotta make an appointment." Kendall now felt the hesitation that James and Carlos must've felt when they were faced with their challenge. He felt his heart start to hammer in his chest as he gripped his hold on the gun, pointing it to Brad's head, trying his best to look tough as he did as he slowly followed him inside his apartment.

Brad stumbled back, "Woah, man, no need for this. I got dope, cash… you want some dope?" Kendall kept his hold. "No need for this. I'm sure we can make a deal." Kendall lowered his guard after hearing that, stupidity taking him over for just a second. Brad saw that and punched his jaw. "I'll blow your brains out, you son of a bitch!" Brad grabbed a shotgun from behind the wall.

Kendall dodged one of the shells as he took off running through Brad's house. "You think you can come into my house and steal my dope?!" Kendall picked up a guitar and tossed it over to Brad to try and stun him, dodging the shells that Brad shot at him as he dove to avoid getting killed. The killer was a liar! This wasn't easy at all! He was getting shot at!

Kendall ran into the hallway, running into a door that led to a bathroom that connected with the kitchen. Kendall had his gun raised, but before he could shoot, Brad appeared and shot at him, Kendall having to lower his head to dodge the shell. He kicked over a basket of clothes to buy him some time to run to the kitchen. He narrowly dodged a shell that hit the door behind him as he took refuge in the kitchen.

"Nowhere to hide, junkie asshole!" Kendall was getting annoyed with Brad's pestering as he ran back into the hallway, waiting for him to run out of bullets. Kendall stopped by a bedroom, pushing the door open as he ran inside. He cursed himself when there wasn't anywhere to run, Brad appearing and pointing his shotgun at him. "Got you now."

Click.

Click.

Click.

Kendall realized that his gun was empty. His heart attack now gone, he raised his Python which still had all of its bullets in it. Kendall felt that hesitation come back. Did he want to kill this guy? No, but he had to do it. Kendall raised it, staring at the shocked form of Brad as he held his hands up.

"Please man, don't do this. I don't know what I did to piss you off, but I'm sorry." Kendall knew that he was trying to save his life, but he couldn't give in. Logan and his family needed him to do this. They needed him. He held his posture; his determined face staring at Brad's shocked one. Kendall held his finger over the trigger, getting the courage to do what needed to be done. Kendall sighed when Brad started crying, guilt now in his chest as he lowered his gun slightly as his conscious tried to tell him to do the right thing and walk away. Kendall was about to walk. He couldn't do this. He wasn't gonna be a murderer.

'What would Mom and Katie think of me if they saw me now?' he asked himself as he looked down to the crying man who was now on his knees. Kendall sure hoped that he killer's strange nice complex to him can be used for his advantage. 'I won't sink to his level. I am better than this.' Kendall was praying to God that this wasn't gonna come back and haunt him.

BAM!

Brad fell forward as a bullet pierced his head. Kendall stared in shock as he watched the carpet he was standing on slowly stain dark red from the man's blood.

James made a 'humph' sound as he lowered his gun, smoke coming out.

"Really? All that talk about doing anything for your family and you hesitate? Did you happen to see this…?" James pulled out the handgun that was in Brad's back-pocket. "He was gonna kill you, Kendall, and you hesitated." Kendall narrowed his eyes at him. "He would've killed you and then what? I and Carlos are left alone without another member of our family. You know… after hearing Frankie's story about how his family died, I would think you would take that and use it to keep yourself alive and determined. But instead," James walked over to Kendall, making bloody footprints as he walked and pulled out Kendall's phone after reaching down his pocket, snapping a picture of Brad and sending it to the number. "You back out and almost get killed." After awkward silence for a few seconds, they got the picture of the next piece of the building where their family was at. James dialed the number, a dead line on the other end being received. He scoffed. "Figures."

"James…" Kendall was in shock. James, his buddy, just straight up murdered someone in cold blood. Kendall didn't know if Brad was gonna kill him with the gun he had in his pocket. James could've murdered an innocent man. Even if Brad tried to kill him, it was only because Kendall shoved a gun in his face. He was justified in self-defense.

"Let's go. People are gonna start showing up soon."

It was then that Kendall accepted it. Accepted what Frankie said in the apartment, as painful as it was for him to do so.

James was dangerous.

…

An hour later found Kendall, Carlos, Frankie and James in the apartment, the small home cleared out of anyone other than the four of them. Camille and Lucy had left with Nate to go check on Jo and Katelyn. Frankie stayed up because he knew that a fight was gonna happen between Kendall and James and wanted to be there to stop it. They didn't have time for this shit.

"James…"

"Don't even try and talk to me about what I did." James scoffed. "I saved your life. Don't criticize me, but thank me. You would be dead," he looked to Carlos. "You too. I didn't do anything wrong. I saved both your lives. We're two steps closer because of me." He poked his chest. "Everything so far is because of me. If it wasn't for me, you two would be dead."

"Quit repeating yourself," Frankie sat on the stool. "We get it. You're Hero James. Yay." He did a mock fist pump.

"Shut up. You're really pissing me off." James glared warningly.

"What you gonna do? Kill me like you did that guy or the first one?" Frankie glared right back, completely unfazed. James reached for his weapon, Frankie reaching for his. "If that gun so much as sees the light, I'll kill you on the spot. I have two kids. I'm not gonna let myself get killed by a whiny boy that hates himself because he killed people. I won't hesitate."

"Me either." James shot right back, shocking Carlos with his words. To hear James say that he'll kill someone with no remorse stung. When he woke up when they arrived back, Carlos was expecting to comfort Kendall, not hear that James murdered someone.

Kendall stayed quiet, guilt flowing through his veins. What was wrong with him? He was so close to doing it and killing Brad. James had to do it for him. Kendall was supposed to be the leader of the group. He was supposed to make the tough choices. He crawled on glass, why couldn't he kill someone? Even Carlos had stepped up and did what had to be done. Why couldn't he?

James was scaring him, he thought as he stood up to answer the knocking door. His friend was gone. His best friend that he met all those years ago and grew up with was gone. He killed two people in the span of a few hours, something he wouldn't have even thought about yesterday morning. The Painter Killer ruined his friend. He might as well have kidnapped James too and put this look-alike here to screw with them. Kendall was heartbroken that his best friend was gone and able to kill people easily when he, the supposed badass and hero, couldn't do it. He wanted to get his friend back, but he admired this James just a little bit. He knew what had to be done. He got the dirty jobs done that they now had to do. Kendall wanted to be able to do that too, but in a normalish way. He wanted to be able to do what he had to do, but still be himself; kinda like how Carlos was. He might've been guilty as a guy who got caught committing ten types of crime, but he was still Carlos. He should've killed Brad on the spot. He should've done a lot of things.

Kendall didn't know that the two people that he saw behind the door as he opened it were his chance to make up for his mistake.

End of Chapter 13 of Heavy Blood

Not how you expected this chapter to go, huh? Did I shock you? I bet I did.

James killed Brad instead. That plays a part in the next chapter with these two new guys and Kendall's regret in not killing Brad. I was originally gonna have it here, but pushed it to the next chapter.

Next chapter will have two halves. The first halve will be some Jo/Kate bonding and the second halve is the boys and these new guys. I like both scenes a lot and don't know which to like more. You'll see why next time.

How did you folks like the Frankie/Jo scene? I liked it a lot. It shows a bit of him opening him to them.

Liked the subtle Carlos/Lucy hints?

More Kames tension. A lot more to come with that since besides finding their family, that's the main focus of the story.

Next Time: Regret


	14. Regret

Disclaimer: Don't own Big Time Rush

AN: **We are almost to 200 reviews for this story already. 'Big Time Brotherly Love' only reached 100 by this point so I'm glad that things are going better for this story.**

**Major conflicts are about to arise and Kendall and James are gonna embark on a journey in two chapters that will push their friendship and future relationship over the edge. You'll find out why after this chapter and after that chapter, we'll see Logan again and how he's recovering from his beating Pete gave him. Slight spoiler, I was gonna originally have Kendall kill him but now I'm more leaning towards Logan killing Pete because of future events I have planned.**

**Enjoy the fluff and suspense that are in this chapter.**

Chapter 14- Regret

"Are you having fun?" Jo asked as she set Katelyn in the Palm Woods Pool.

The little ball of energy that was Katelyn Wilson nodded enthusiastically. "Yes! I am!"

Jo let a small smile cross her face as she watched Katelyn swim in circles in the pool, a duck shaped pool float under her with water wings on her arms; a fit of giggles escaping the mouth of the little girl as she had the time of her life. Jo had taken her to her apartment to get changed into the purple shirt and blue shorts that her father had packed so the baby can go in the water. Jo had to admit she laughed when she saw the pool float and water wings that were in the bag. Frankie was really a protective dad to his kids, even when he wasn't around. Jo had also taken the liberty to change into a two-piece red bikini herself so she can swim with the little girl, a sense of protection bubbled up in her chest when she thought of the three-year-old girl. She didn't want to think of Frankie's reaction if something happened to his baby, especially when he entrusted his kids to her, something that he didn't seem like he wanted to do but did anyway.

Jo ignored the looks that she was getting when she came in here with the little girl. She saw that some were of confusion, probably thinking that Kate was in some way shape or form related to her. Jo could understand where the confusion lay. Katelyn did look a lot like her. They had the same blonde hair and brown eyes, although Jo's were a darker shade than Kate's were.

As she circled the pool with the baby, many things were crossing through her mind. Things that had been building up since the previous night: Kendall being emitted into the hospital, James' personality shift, and Carlos' guilt after killing an innocent man. Jo couldn't imagine the feelings that her friends were feeling after all that they were going through. They all had so much grief and pain that were slowly taking them over, mostly with James than anyone else.

Jo had to admit that James was terrifying her. His outbursts, his shaved head, and his fights with Kendall were slowly labeling him dangerous in her mind. James wasn't anything like this before last night. Before, he was a nice and sweet guy, but now he was falling to the darkness that he was pulled into the night before. Kendall and Carlos were doing a good job in not letting the killer's games get to them, especially Kendall, whom Jo thought would be the one going nuts and crazy over the fact that his mom and sister were taken by this guy.

But James was falling into the dark realms of his actions. He was forced to kill a man and was letting his guilt swallow him alive. He shaved his head, something she never thought he would do, and was now arguing and fighting with Kendall, his best friend. Those two were as close as Siamese twins. Jo had never seen them fight like they did in the apartment before they left. Kendall's hurt face as James stomped out and slammed the door to the apartment is what stuck to Jo.

The pain, the misery, and the shock that was on his face made Kendall look weaker than he really was. He almost looked defeated that his best friend yelled at him and made him feel bad. It wasn't something that Jo ever thought that would happen to the BTR boys, but it was a possibility with James changing at a rapid pace that no one could keep up with.

If she could, she would make things better between them, but she didn't know how to get James back to the way he was before without building or borrowing a time machine and she didn't have the number to Marty Mcfly or Doc Brown, so that idea was out.

She had to cover her face when she felt someone splashing water in it. Before she can get angry, she saw that Katelyn was giggling as she splashed water around. Jo let the anger and annoyance she felt die down when she looked at the baby. She couldn't get angry at her. She was too cute.

When she watched Katelyn stare at a mother and daughter pair, Jo's heart broke when she saw the baby sadden and about to cry for her own mom. Jo had heard Frankie's story about her mom and his best friend dying, which caused new layers of sympathy form for the small family. The Wilson family had lost almost everything to this serial killer and only had each other to lean on and care for. She especially felt bad for the little girl here that was trying to be strong and not cry. She was so young and lost almost all her family, memories of pain scarred into her head that would last for the rest of her life. She felt bad for Nate and Frankie too, but the infant wouldn't remember any of this and Frankie at least had past memories to hold onto. Katelyn would barely remember her family and would possibly forget how her mother looked like. That was so horrible.

When tears started falling down her face and whimpers started escaping her mouth, Jo wrapped her arms around the baby, pulling her close to her chest and whispering reassuring words to her.

"It's okay, sweetie. It's okay." She didn't care that people were staring at her. She couldn't care less. All that mattered to her was that a baby was crying and she needed to make her happy again. She didn't deserve all this pain that she was feeling so young. She should only worry about what new toy she wanted, not about her dead relatives or the fact that her mom wasn't coming back. Jo gave the little girl a peck on the top of her head, "Its okay. You still have your daddy who loves you very much." At the mention of him, Jo recalled how angry he got the last time she kissed his daughter. She forgot to ask him why, but figured that he had a good reason and was just being protective of his little princess as he called her. Jo still thought that was cute.

"I know…" Katelyn sniffed. "I miss my mommy a lot."

"I know you do." Jo tightened her hold on the girl. "I bet she misses you too." Jo double-checked the water wings and pool float to make sure that they were safe and secure. "You wanna get out?"

"No," Katelyn snuggled into Jo's chest, wrapping her smaller arms around the older girl's torso. "I wanna stay here with you." She answered, Jo growing a small blush on her face. "You're my best friend." Jo's blush deepened. "I don't want you to leave."

"Why would you say that?" Jo didn't like the thought of leaving Katelyn. It stunned her and upset her a lot more than she thought. She might've only known the girl for two days but she felt a strong connection with her. Frankie said that she was the only person Katelyn talked to outside of her family after the deaths of their family, but Jo didn't think much of that because she doubted that Frankie really talked to anyone after his family's deaths and that the guys were the first people he had contact with after the whole incident. No matter, Jo still felt special that Katelyn took a liking to her so fast.

"Because my daddy's best friend went away." Kate explained. "He went away with mommy. Daddy told me so."

Jo recalled that Frankie said that his best friend had died not too long ago, but unlike when he mentioned Katelyn's mom and he would look like he was about to cry, when he mentioned his best friend he darkened. He compared him to James and Jo could see the shadow of anger that was on his face when he did. Jo might've not known a whole lot about Frankie, but this anger that he showed was different than the other anger he always showed. While that was used as a defense mechanism and as a result of pain, the pain that barely registered on his face before looked liked betrayal.

Something happened between Frankie and his friend. Something bad.

"Look at me, Kate." The little girl listened. "I'm not ever going to leave you. Best friends don't leave each other for anything." Jo started to explain, hoping to calm some of the traumatized girl's nerves.

Katelyn looked confused. "But Daddy's best friend went away. I saw-"

Jo didn't like the sound of that. "What did you see?" some panic arose in her as she listened to Katelyn. Did she witness his death? If she did, Jo wouldn't know what to do. The poor baby shouldn't have to see a real death so young. It would damage her even more than she was.

"I was sleeping and I heard a loud noise. I looked for Daddy but I couldn't find him anywhere," Katelyn saddened slightly. "I thought he was playing hide an' go seek and I had to find him. I went to the living room and heard Daddy crying. Daddy never cries. He's too cool to cry." Jo almost awed. Katelyn idolized her daddy and thought he was strong. She just got a lot cuter in Jo's eyes. "I saw Daddy outside the house and I opened the door,"

"You shouldn't go outside by yourself," Jo scolded lightly.

"I know, but Daddy was crying and I wanted to make him feel better. I called his name and next to him was his best friend, on the ground all red."

'_Oh my God._' Jo put the pieces together in her head. Katelyn saw her dad's friend's dead body. She must be so confused and have so many questions in her small head about what she saw. Jo was sure Frankie told her something about it when she saw it to protect her. It was the kind of father he was. "What did your daddy tell you?"

"He said the bad man hurt him like he did mommy. Why did the bad man hurt my mommy and daddy's friend? Does he hate us?"

Jo was almost at a lost for words right now. Katelyn lost her mom, most of her family, saw the dead body of her dad's friend, and thought that someone hated her for doing all these bad things to her family. Jo so desperately wanted to find this serial killer and do horrible things to him for traumatizing this sweet little girl. The bastard ruined her life just because he liked to kidnap and kill people and the damage can never be undone.

Jo hugged her tighter, "Listen to me, honey, no one hates you. Your daddy loves you more than anything. He loves you and your nephew so much that I can't even tell you how much he loves you guys. He would do anything for you two no matter what it is. That's why he's helping my friends. He wants to keep you safe." Despite Frankie saying that he was in this for revenge, Jo could see that he just wanted to make sure that the serial killer couldn't come back after him and hurt his family again. He was more worried about keeping Katelyn and Nate safe than to get some satisfaction that the man who caused his nightmare and his family's hell was dead, although Jo knew that he deserved that feeling after everything that he's been through.

"I know. Daddy said that he did what he did for me."

Jo nodded with a smile, "Carlos likes you too. He played patty-cake with you before, remember?"

Katelyn managed a giggle, "It was fun."

"Nate loves you too. He may only be a baby, but he loves you like your daddy does. You're his aunt and he loves you for it. You love him too, right?" Katelyn nodded. "See? You love him and he loves you too. You guys are family and family always loves each other."

"I love Nate." Katelyn smiled.

"And I love you too. I'm your best friend and you wanna know what that means?" Katelyn nodded her head, anxious to see what Jo said. "It means that I am not going to leave you ever. I'm gonna spend a lot of time with you and make you laugh when your sad and make you the happiest girl ever. Anytime you wanna talk to me, you can; if you wanna spend time with me, I'll drop what ever it is I'm doing and come play with you. Remember that, sweetie. Don't forget that I'm here now and I'm never going away. Ever."

"Never ever?" Katelyn asked excitedly, the smile that Jo loved to see on her face coming back and brighter than she's seen it so far.

"Nope. Never ever." Jo smiled. Seeing the light come back on the little girl's face made Jo really happy. This little girl that was hugging her in a tight grip didn't deserve to be in the darkness so young and go through everything that she went through these last few weeks. She deserved to have her family back with her and her dad to not be so broken and angry at the world for what happened. She deserved a normal family with a normal life and with no trauma or pain in her innocent heart.

"Thank you, Jo! I love you!" Katelyn blurted out, happy that her best friend wasn't gonna be leaving her life any time soon. It made her happier than she's been in weeks. She finally had someone else to love and be there for her. She loved her dad, of course, but it was nice for her to have someone else in her family, especially a girl. She needed that female interaction that her dad could never give her.

Jo kissed her cheek, "I love you too, baby." Her voice was soothing and relaxing to the girl's ears. It reminded Katelyn a lot of her mom's voice when she put her to sleep at night before she went away. It brought her smile to new levels of bright and happiness.

"I'm cold," she shivered, a gust of wind blowing by and causing Goosebumps to appear on her skin. "Can we get out, please?" she gave her signature cute pout that she gave her dad when she wanted something. It was how she got her favorite teddy bear that was resting in the bag at the lounge chair Jo had put it on.

"Okay," Jo agreed, being slightly cold now too after that wind. Jo pulled Katelyn out of the duck shaped pool float, balancing her in her arms as she stepped out of the pool, drips of water dripping from both of their heads. Jo settled Katelyn in the chair as she started drying the little blonde girl with the towel that she had on the chair. "Are you getting warmer?" she asked.

"Yes." She nodded, keeping the towel wrapped around her small body. "Can you get my teddy bear from the bag, please?"

"Yes, of course, cutie." Jo opened the bag that Frankie had packed when they dropped him off at his house so he can get what he needed for his kids. She reached in and pulled out a small brown teddy bear and handed it to Katelyn's awaiting hand, using her other one to keep the towel around her. She momentarily dropped the towel when she used both arms to hug the bear tight against her chest. Jo smiled at the cute sight. "What's the bear's name?"

"Teddy!" Katelyn said, looking down and smiling at the small bear.

"That's a cool name," Jo said as she sat down on the edge of the chair, watching as Katelyn's eyes beamed as she held her teddy bear. Katelyn brought the bear to her ear, Jo noticing how Kate seemed to be having a 'conversation' with it. "What did Teddy say?"

"Teddy said she likes you too. Teddy says that you look pretty."

"Tell Teddy she's pretty too," Jo kept her smile as she watched Katelyn relay the message to the stuffed bear.

"She says thank you." Katelyn put the bear back to her ear before she shook her head. "Should I ask her…?"

"Ask me what?" Jo asked, finding this entire gesture between the girl and her bear to be cute.

"Teddy said to ask you if you can sleepover at my house tonight." Katelyn looked slightly embarrassed as she asked, her head lowered with a small blush on her face. She must've thought that Jo would say no and didn't want to hear her best friend turn her down.

Jo's head filled with a bunch of thoughts after that. The first thing was that she didn't have anything to do tomorrow, so she could if she wanted too, but the second thing was Katelyn's dad. Would he allow her to stay the night if she decided to go? He did anything his baby asked him too, so he really might say yes, but he wasn't so trusting with strangers at all. Jo wasn't sure if they were considered strangers anymore after he entrusted his kids to her while he was out. They weren't friends, but Jo could at least call them acquaintances now. Maybe that would help her case or it may not. Jo saw Katelyn looking up anxiously, waiting for her answer. Jo could tell by the slight excited gleam in her eyes that she was hoping Jo would say yes. After seeing that, Jo couldn't say no or even think it.

"We'll ask your daddy and if he says yes, I'll stay, okay?" Jo gave her a smile.

"Okay! I know he'll say yes!"

"Oh. Why is that?" Jo leaned forward, laying on her side now as she stared at Katelyn, who was lying on her side facing Jo.

"Daddy always says yes to me." That was true. "I'll ask him because I know he'll say yes." Jo just realized how clever and smart Katelyn was for her age. "So what are we gonna do tonight?" she asked, snuggling her teddy bear close, the towel laying forgotten under the two girls.

Jo ran a hand through Kate's hair. "I can do your hair for you."

"Mommy did my hair for me all the time." Katelyn recalled.

"How did she do it?" When Jo found out how Katelyn's mom used to do her hair, she was gonna do her best to recreate it like the deceased woman did to make the little girl happy. Jo was gonna do anything she can to make Katelyn's life happier for her. She would do her best to make the good outweigh the bad.

Katelyn thought it over a minute before she answered, enjoying the feeling of Jo's delicate fingers running through her hair and not wanting it to stop any time soon. It reminded her a lot of her mom's touch. Warm and loving. "Mommy used to do a ponytail and pigtails for me… But I like your hair too."

Jo curled her upper lip as she thought about what to do. "I'll do pigtails for you tonight and tomorrow, I can make it look like mine. Do you like that?" she smiled.

"Yes I do. Thank you, Jo." Katelyn hugged her again.

"You're welcome, sweetie." Jo hugged her back. "What else do you want to do today?"

Katelyn puckered her lips cutely before she thought about she wanted to do with her best friend. "Can we watch movies?"

Jo nodded, "Of course we can. What movie do you want to watch?"

"I don't know." She shrugged; looking more like her dad as she nonchalantly shrugged her small shoulders. Jo didn't know how this girl can get any cuter than she already was. Every time she did something she climbed the bar of cuteness that Jo was picturing in her head. Katelyn was the most adorable girl she's ever met in her life. "Can we pick when we go to my house?" Jo nodded.

"Let's go wait for your daddy to come back so you can ask him." Jo stood up and grabbed Kate's duck shaped pool float, letting the air out so it can fit in the bag. She grabbed the forgotten towel after putting the float away and wrapped around herself, both to get warm and so the pervs around here couldn't stare at her. She didn't want to explain to Katelyn why boys were staring at her. Jo found herself glancing up to the window that led into Apartment 2J in case if Kendall and the rest had come back and Frankie was spying on her and his daughter.

A bang rung out, a splatter of something red staining the inside of the window that led into 2J soon after. Another bang rung out after that and then another before no more came.

Jo didn't notice she was holding Katelyn protectively under her until a few seconds later. What was going on? Why did three gunshots ring out in 2J? What was going on up there? What was Carlos doing? Were the rest of the boys back? This was just a few of the many questions that were floating around in Jo's head as she looked to Katelyn to see if she was okay.

"That was the same sound I heard when Daddy cried." Katelyn remembered, fear crossing her face. "Jo, is the bad man back? Is he gonna hurt me?" Katelyn was looking like she was about to have an anxiety attack.

Jo shook her head, "No, sweetie. No one is gonna hurt you. I'll protect you." She kissed the top of her head before she hid Katelyn behind her back, taking the lead as they walked to where the shots rung out. Jo wasn't sure if it was smart to take Katelyn to where gunshots went off, but she swore that she would protect her and she meant it. Jo would do what ever it took to protect the little girl.

As the two blonde girls started making their way to 2J, they bumped into Camille and Lucy as the two girls exited the elevator, shocked and confused looks on their faces as they stared at Jo and Katelyn.

"What was that?" Camille asked, balancing Nate in her arms as she looked to Jo, thinking that the actress had the answer that she was searching for. She and Lucy had just left 2J not five minutes ago and after they had stepped into the elevator after passing a group of three people a large bang echoed followed by two more. The confusion they felt was astonishing and beating across their skulls furiously with the echoes of the sounds they just heard.

Jo looked to her two friends before she turned to the little girl that was hiding behind her legs, fear present on her features. "I… think those sounds came from 2J."

"Why?"

Jo looked back to the pool area, "When the first bang happened, a large mess of something red splattered on the window." Jo started to get a worried look on her face. "Something happened up there."

"Is Daddy hurt?" Kate was starting to worry for her dad. "Jo? Is Daddy okay?"

Jo kneeled down, getting to eye-level with the frightened little girl. "Listen, sweetie… your daddy is really strong and tough. Even after everything he's been through, he still loves and protects you and Nate. Your daddy is one of the strongest people I've ever seen." Jo wasn't lying. She really did think that Frankie was one tough man. After what he's been through, after what he's seen, and after everything he's done, anyone else would've gone crazy or killed themselves because of all the pain they had. But Frankie was still somewhat sane, even though he was still an ass, and was a loving father despite all his faults and trauma. That was the image of a strong person if she ever saw one.

Katelyn sniffed back some of the mucus that was in her nose. "Really?"

Jo nodded, "Yes. Your daddy is really strong and don't ever forget that." She gave the little girl a comforting hug that she quickly returned.

"Jo…" Jo nodded to let Lucy know that she was listening to her. "Anyone ever tell you that you are great with kids?" Jo knew that she was doing something right with Katelyn, having stopped her crying a few times today, but she wasn't sure if she was great with kids in general. She only had experience with her younger brother and sister and with them; they never listened to her and liked to make her life hell. With Katelyn, she didn't know… it was just easy for her to talk and comfort her.

"She is, isn't she?" Jo could feel Camille's smirk on her back, some devious taunt forming in her head that she was going to tell her at one point or another in the near future.

"Can we go make sure that the guys are okay?" Jo broke the attention off of her, reminding the two ladies what had happened not even a minute ago. Bangs rung in 2J and they needed to make sure that the boys were okay so they didn't have to go to make another trip to the hospital.

Lucy and Camille nodded, following behind Jo as they hesitantly walked to the elevator to ride it up to 2J to see if the boys were okay if they were back. As far as they knew, only Carlos was in there and Carlos wouldn't shoot three bullets with his gun for no reason.

They hoped they were okay.

…

Three.

That's how many men were sitting on the stools in 2J, Kendall counted, after he opened the door and let them in after they asked to talk. James and Carlos were sitting on the orange couch while Frankie sat on the last stool, his back towards the kitchen but facing the three newcomers. Kendall was leaning against the counter next to Frankie, watching as one of the men, David, asked for a drink.

"Got any beer?" he asked, his dark brown eyes glancing at the see-through fridge of the apartment. When he didn't find what he was looking for, he ran a hand through his matching dark brown hair. "Oh well. How about some water instead?"

Kendall watched as Frankie stood up to get David what he requested, his shoulders tensed and his one good eye roaming between the other two men as he let the glass fill up. Kendall heard David laugh when the water started overflowing in the glass.

"That's enough, buddy." He joked, getting a narrowed look from the one-eyed man as he handed the glass of a lot of water to the man, some of it dripping onto the floor as he did so. "Anyway, these are my two friends Jason and Randall." He pointed to the fat man and the younger male as he introduced them.

Kendall stared at Jason, the bigger man rubbing his stomach as he and Randall waved to the four boys. Jason was just a little taller than he was with a baseball cap on his head to hide his face from the sun outside. He wore a dark blue shirt and army cargo colored shorts with some ugly sandals. Kendall thought he had the appearance of a slob.

The other guy, Randall, was the exact opposite. He was clean-cut, tall, and wore nice clothes. A white button-up shirt with dress pants and nice shoes that Kendall thought made him look like he was some kind of business man. He had the smile to boot too and with the black spiked hair and curious brown eyes, Kendall could pinpoint him as the smartest of the bunch.

Still, it didn't erase the tension that Kendall felt in the air. James and Frankie felt it too, both eyeing Jason and David respectively while Carlos didn't seem to sense it. Either that or he did but just wasn't showing it, Kendall didn't know.

"Nice to see you." James nodded, relaxing in the couch but never taking his eyes off of Jason as he did. James folded one of his legs on top of the other, his right hand digging into his pocket. Kendall knew that's where his gun was. Was James really thinking about killing these people? Sure something was off with their sudden appearance, but he didn't have to kill anyone that wasn't a part of their group. Kendall was gonna have to make sure James didn't do a repeat of the Brad incident.

Frankie stepped to the fridge, opening it and taking out bread, cold-cuts, and mayonnaise. Kendall didn't know what the hell he was doing. Was he about to make a sandwich now? Was he being serious? By the look that was on his face, he surely was.

"Anyone want a sandwich while I'm making one?" Frankie opened the drawer in which the knives were kept, pulling out a decent sized one. He pulled out two pieces of bread and started spreading some mayonnaise on one of the pieces, looking up to the group of three men that entered the apartment not even a minute ago. He watched Jason about to open his mouth before David motioned for him not to.

"No thanks. Nice of you to ask." David smiled appreciatively to the single father, who didn't acknowledge him other than a nod to show that he heard. He seemed to be taking his time to make sure the mayonnaise was spread on properly.

"Why are you here?" James asked the one question that was on Kendall's mind. Who were these guys? Kendall didn't know any of these guys and he knew for a strong fact that James and Carlos didn't either. Frankie's tense shoulders and his glances to them all suspiciously told Kendall that he didn't know who these guys were either.

"Would it be weird if we said we were fans of Big Time Rush and found out where you live to meet you?" Randall joked, getting a simultaneous nod from the three BTR members and a look of disbelief from Frankie, who was now applying ham on the other slice of bread. "Good thing I'm joking then."

"I was about to say… Even my daughter isn't that obsessed with these guys." Frankie said as he blinked at Randall's stupid joke. That was a weird way to break the tension and start a conversation with someone who you just barged into unexpected.

"You have a daughter?" Randall asked, Frankie nodding, a small smile crossing his face as he thought of his little girl. "How old is she?"

"Three."

Randall blinked in surprise. "But you look nineteen…"

"A combination of alcohol and drugs can lead to you doing something you didn't plan." He reminisced, letting a small sigh pass his lips. "But I still love her with all my heart and soul… I'll do anything for her." He said, getting a nod from Randall. Kendall smiled. Despite being an ass, Kendall knew that Frankie loved his family no matter what.

James coughed, getting attention from the three newcomers. "So… why are you guys really here?" James asked again, a glare on his face that Kendall thought could make any guy shit his pants. James really changed over the past two days. Kendall was worried to see how the next few weeks were gonna be. He couldn't bear to see James sink further into what ever it was that was taking him over. Kendall wanted James to get better and back to the way he was yesterday morning, not the way he was now. Darker and angrier than Frankie was.

David set down the glass of water, "We know…" At the four sets of confused looks he was getting, he elaborated. "We know about The Painter Killer and him taking your family."

Kendall felt the anxiety increase. No one told anyone yet about what was going on. Not even the cops knew. The only people outside of the four of them that knew were the girls, but these guys definitely didn't look like friends of any of them. How did they know? Something wasn't right.

"We came to pay our respects." Randall spoke, smothering out the edges of his shirt. "We know how hard that must be for you guys. To get your family kidnapped is not something pleasant." Kendall watched James roll his eyes as if to say 'no shit'. "The three of us, actually, are the last few families that he messed with. Us and our friend Richard. He'll be here when he finds a parking space." He explained.

Carlos sympathetically nodded his head. "We're sorry. It hurts to be forced to submit to his wishes and do heinous acts just to have a chance to get closer to saving your family." Kendall saw James eye Carlos as if to tell him to 'be quiet'. James must've noticed it too. Even if these guys were telling the truth, it didn't explain how they knew that they were dealing with the killer. No one said anything. This was the first time they were even meeting these guys. They couldn't have known from them. Someone else told them.

"And if you fail, you only feel regret and shame for doing so." David raised his glass of water before he downed the last of the large cup that Frankie gave him. "You guys have any regrets?" Kendall tilted his head, still leaning on the counter as he watched David place the glass next to the mayonnaise covered knife that Frankie put down as he finished making his ham sandwich. "Did you do his challenges yet?"

"A few." Carlos was the one who answered. "The first two rows actually."

"So you just passed the killing." Randall noted, getting a small nod from the boy.

"You regret what you did?" Jason stood up from the stool, stretching his large fat legs. His eyes roamed around until they shifted from James to the munching Frankie, his free hand that wasn't occupying the sandwich in plain sight on the counter, his fingers outstretched in the direction of the knife.

"Of course," Carlos answered honestly, almost like David knew he would as he saw James, Kendall, and Frankie observe and keep their mouths shut. Carlos was the obvious people person in the small group, able to talk to anyone and answer anyone's question with sincerity and an innocent tone.

"How many people did you all kill?" Randall curiously glanced between the four boys with a raised brow. Kendall didn't like where this was going, but couldn't let the suspicion show. James and Frankie were doing a good enough job on their own with that already.

"One." Carlos answered.

James sighed deeply before he muttered his. "Two."

"None." Kendall answered as he watched the confused looks rise from the three newcomers. "James helped me when I was about to be killed. He saved my life." He gave his friend the appreciated look that he should've given him back at Brad's apartment. James nodded and accepted it, giving him a small smile.

"Is that allowed?" Jason looked to David, who shook his head.

"I don't think so."

"It's not a game. It's life and death." Kendall answered, more suspicion rising. Carlos seemed to sense it this time, looking slowly and confusingly between the three men.

David looked to the still-munching Frankie. "How about you, pal?" Frankie glared at the nickname before he finished the sandwich, wiping any remaining mayonnaise off of his mouth.

"Four." The answer shocked Kendall, James, and Carlos. They guessed that the man had to kill one person for his second challenge, but four people?! That was a mind blown answer. No traces of sarcasm or exaggeration was on his face either, only a shrug and burp that he bulged when he swallowed the food.

David whistled. "Wow… Don't know what to say." He drummed his fingertips on the counter. "You only have to kill one person… How did you kill four…?" Kendall and the rest tuned in, their own platonic curiosity taking over as they watched Frankie stand up and lean over the counter so he was eye-to-eye with David, his suspicion rising and his lips upturning. He looked like he wanted to smirk… or cry. His one eye had something in it that made it shine, Kendall noticed.

"I don't have to tell you anything. All I'm gonna say is that one of those guys was for my challenge. The other three were from my personal life. I don't know you guys, I don't like you, I don't have to tell you anything." He rebutted with finality, leaning back to where his stool was on the other side where the three outsiders were sitting. Frankie wiped an eye before he started swinging one leg under the table, his head lowered.

Kendall watched David look slightly appalled at being talked back to, but seemed to accept it and where this man was coming from. Kendall couldn't believe it as he clapped a hand on Frankie's shoulder. This man… This loving father of two kids killed four people? He expected one, as Carlos had said that he mentioned to him that he already killed someone, but four people? He must've had a more screwed-up life than they knew about.

"Sorry for intruding, Mr.…?"

"His name's Frankie Wilson." James answered for the man, which got him two glares from said man and Kendall, who sent a look to James that asked him 'what are you doing?' James returned one that said 'I don't see the big deal.' While they were glaring and Carlos was looking at the silent argument in confusion, they all missed the wide eyes and shared looks that David, Jason, and Randall shared.

David stood up from the stool, nodding to Jason before he grabbed the knife and cup. "Like I was saying, I'm sorry Mr. Wilson." When they stared at him with the knife, he laughed. "I'm just gonna put these away. You got me the water, it's only fair I put it in the sink." David started walking…

And then it happened.

He jerked forward, a yelp escaping his lips as his arm with the knife outstretched in Frankie's direction. Frankie barely registered what was about to happen before he felt a sudden weight on his chest and something hitting his head. He saw black spots for a few seconds before he realized he was pushed to the floor and his head hit the ground. He saw Kendall on top of him and the knife falling to the ground beneath them after David dropped it after hitting the counter. Frankie shared a nod with Kendall as he watched him step up and start yelling to David, using the small distraction to pick up the knife that fell to his foot.

Bastard just made his last mistake.

"What the hell was that?!" Kendall roared as he raised his hands. "You could've killed him!" the words dangled in the air as James and Carlos shared a look, Carlos shocked and James looking something that he didn't know how to explain. James just shook his head as he stood up. "What the hell was that?!" Kendall repeated in the same tone.

David held up his hands, the pathetic gesture being used as if to lower the consequences of what he just did. "It was an accident…"

Randall nodded in support of his friend. "Yeah, I saw him slip on the water that fell to the ground earlier. If anything, your friend would've gotten himself killed for spilling the water."

"He's right," Frankie admitted as he stood up, his right hand hidden behind his back. "I was stupid." Kendall stepped back when he saw Frankie shoo him away. Frankie gave a small smile to David, outstretching his left hand. "No hard feelings?" David smiled, going to take his hand. Before David opened his mouth, Frankie grabbed his hand hard and spun David around, getting behind him and slitting his throat with no moments hesitation.

"Jesus Christ!" Jason bellowed as he and Randall watched their friend bleed out and start growing lifeless. Frankie kept a hard look on his face as he held David's head, the knife he used now covered in a combination of mayonnaise and blood. He released David after a few moments, the lifeless body falling to the ground as Frankie and Kendall circled around the counter, James joining at their side on Kendall's right; Carlos in shock on the couch after seeing Frankie kill David. Jason stumbled to the wall by the front door of the apartment while Randall stepped back in front of the window.

"Oops, my bad…" Frankie pulled out his revolver from his back pocket. "I killed _**five **_people, not four. My bad." James smirked while Kendall sighed. They knew something was up and they were right. Frankie almost got killed and would've been the one dead if Kendall didn't push him out of the way. He gave Kendall an appreciative nod, the blonde boy nodding back with a smile. With that act, Kendall knew that he earned his respect. A few hours ago, they hated each other and now, they were on friendly terms. Kendall guessed the old saying of people getting closer in times of crisis were true. He just wished that James would act like himself again and let him in on his pain.

"You freakin' psycho!" Jason yelled, wanting so badly to open the door and run. He was afraid if he did, he would get shot. James and Kendall pulled out their own guns.

"We'll let you go if you tell us who you are and why you're here." James was about to kill David before Frankie did it. He knew something was wrong. The fact that they knew about the killer when no one told anyone was enough evidence for him that something was wrong with these guys. David's attempt to kill Frankie was the nail that sealed the coffin.

"We told you! We heard about the killer kidnapping your family and came to pay our respects!" Jason yelled.

"We didn't tell anybody," Kendall revealed, stepping forward to eye Randall. "Only we know. The cops don't know yet so there's no possible way that you guys could've found out other than from us. We didn't know you guys before now, so… explain that." Randall and Jason were now looking like a deer caught in the headlights. They looked like they made a huge mistake. Kendall narrowed his eyes at David, resolve and determination crossing his face. "Explain, now!"

Randall growled, "Screw you!" Kendall sighed.

"Spies! We were sent as spies to check on you guys from the killer!" Jason was so desperate to stay alive that he blurted out the truth. Kendall and the rest gasped in shock and surprise. "Our other friend, Richard, is waiting for us to come back. Please! Don't kill us!"

Randall growled at Jason, "You fat idiot. Good freakin' job. Now they know that they're cheating by getting outside help and doing each other's challenges and once the boss finds out, they're family is gonna pay for their decision." Kendall glared as James and Carlos looked back and forth between Jason and Randall in surprise and shock. Randall realized what he just said. "Damn. This idiot made me do this."

"Where's Richard?" Frankie asked, looking to Jason, knowing he was gonna answer if provoked. Jason was about to open his mouth when Frankie raised his gun but Randall's growl told him to shut up. Jason nodded frantically.

"Go to hell…"

"Nope. I'm fine right here."

Kendall growled. "We can't let them leave." He muttered to James. "Logan and my family will suffer if they do." The thought of his family getting hurt sickened him to his core. He didn't want to hurt these guys, but he didn't want to let a threat get away again. If James didn't save him, Brad would've killed him. Kendall didn't like the thought, but knew it had to be done.

James nodded, "You gonna let them get away and make me have to clean up your mess… again?" James reopened the wound that Kendall had over not killing Brad. Kendall knew he should've done it. It was his challenge and James had been forced to do it for him. Kendall was the leader of his group of friends. He should be enduring the pain, not letting his friends take all the weight of the world on their shoulders. Other than the bandages that were wrapped around his arms, Kendall didn't have any memento that showed that he was trying to help his family. James had his shaved head and personality change, Carlos had his guilt-ridden attitude and face, and even Frankie lost an eye for his family; even though he ultimately failed in his quest. Kendall needed to step up… He needed to prove James wrong and that he can help.

Kendall tuned back into the conversation between Frankie and Randall. "You are freakin' psychopath. You are a murderer." Randall was berating Frankie, who was shaking with his bottom lip being chewed on. If Kendall wasn't mistaken, he would think Frankie was trying not to laugh. He saw Carlos pointing his gun to Jason, the larger man removing his hand from the doorknob. Kendall guessed that his short talk with James, combined with Frankie's argument with Randall and Carlos' previous shock gave Jason the idea to run. Carlos must've snapped out of it and stopped the other man from escaping. Kendall nodded. Carlos was swallowing what ever bile he must be tasting to help them.

"And your boss isn't?" he rebuffed, a few chuckles escaping his lips as he raised his left hand and ran it through his hair. "Funny thing to say. And if I laugh, you know it's funny."

Randall seemed to have enough. "Jason, shoot him!"

Everything that happened next played in slow motion.

Kendall raised his Python, blasting a hole in the middle of Randall's forehead before Frankie could, the clean-cut man's blood staining the mirror as he fell onto the ground. He did a quick turn and shot Jason in the stomach before Carlos or James could and lodged another bullet in the man's neck, sealing his fate and ending his life.

No one talked after that. James and Carlos were too busy looking to Kendall in shock and awe while Frankie whistled lowly, looking back and forth between Jason and Randall's dead bodies. The smell of gunpowder filled their noses as the sounds of everyone's breathing started again after stopping for those long three seconds of Kendall killing Jason and Randall. Carlos fell to the ground on his ass, James kneeling down to put a hand on his back to calm him down after seeing their best friend just kill two people.

"Holy shit…" Carlos breathed out the first words that came after the shooting. He was just about to kill Jason. He was ready to be filled with even more guilt and kill Jason. He was ready to do it to save Logan and the Knight women. He was ready… and then Kendall stepped up and killed him along with Randall. Carlos was still trying to process it.

Kendall looked to Carlos, "You alright?" he asked, swallowing the few chunks of vomit he felt creeping up into his throat. He cleared his throat to try and eliminate the taste of the puke that was still there. It didn't work that well. Carlos managed a nod, Kendall turning to James. "You? How do you feel James?"

James caught the tone that was in Kendall's voice. He taunted him. Kendall killed Jason and Randall to prove to him that he can do what it takes. He did it to prove that his words from before weren't just bullshit. Kendall said that he would do anything to save his family and this little act of murdering Jason and Randall was proof. James didn't know if he was feeling respect for Kendall or fear that he did it just to proof a point to him. Either way, he felt something.

He nodded at him, Kendall turning to check the last member of their little group. "How 'bout you Frankie?" Kendall watched Frankie glance over from staring at Randall's dead body to look at him, his hands dangling by his side after putting his gun away.

"I almost got stabbed and shot and you saved me both times. So… yeah, I'm good. Thanks." He thanked genuinely, nodding appreciatively to the blonde boy. "I don't know if I would've been able to move out of the way on time. You gave me more time with my kids and I really do appreciate that." He smirked. "You're one hell of a shot."

Kendall smiled and blushed in embarrassment, not expecting Frankie of all people to thank him. "Thanks." He said as the four guys put their weapons back in their back pockets.

"We should get the hell out of here." James spoke after looking at David and Jason's dead corpses. "Those shots are gonna bring attention and the last thing we need is to be taken to the police station and questioned and possibly jailed for this." He sounded frantic, walking past Kendall and to the door. He nudged Jason's body with his foot. "Pardon me," he excused as he opened the door, leaning on the doorframe as he waited for the guys to follow. "Come on." He clapped. "Vamanos, let's go." He watched and waited for Kendall, Frankie, and Carlos to walk out the door, closing it behind him after he exited. "Good. Let's get out of here."

…

They made it to the corner of the hallway before Frankie was bombarded by someone. A pair of arms wrapped around his leg as a familiar voice started talking.

"Daddy!" Katelyn whimpered as Frankie pulled her off of his leg and hugged her to his chest. "I missed you! I heard the loud noise and thought you were hurt!" she cried.

Frankie chuckled, "Daddy's okay, sweetie. Daddy didn't get hurt." He planted a kiss on the top of her head. "He's okay."

"Daddy?" Frankie gave his little girl his attention. "Can Jo sleepover tonight?" To ensue her dad would say yes, Katelyn gave him her pout that she used when she wanted something. "Please Daddy?"

Frankie looked confusedly over to Jo, demanding an explanation from the blonde haired girl. Jo didn't know what to say, instead giving him an innocent smile and short wave of the hand. Frankie didn't know why, but he found his one eye moving away from his pouting little girl and glancing over Jo's body. He had to admit, even to himself, that she looked really hot in that bikini. He looked away before they could notice where he was looking and glanced back to his little girl, his mind playing the images of Jo in his head, which made him want to shake his head to get rid of them… no matter how hot she looked.

Lucy saw the color of Frankie's hands and the fact that Kendall, James, and Carlos were looking haunted or annoyed. "What happened?" she asked, worried that something happened and the guys were involved with those loud shots that rung out. By her guess and Carlos' rapid breathing, they probably were.

Kendall looked back and forth between Carlos, James and the awaiting girls before he let a long sigh pass his lips. "We got ambushed. The killer sent spies after us." They gasped. "Three of them. I got two and Frankie got the other one." He explained what happened. Lucy nodded, now knowing where the gunshots had come from.

Jo and Camille looked between Kendall and Frankie, trying to imagine these two guys killing someone. It was more shocking to hear that Kendall had taken out, not one, but two people. Kendall was a nice guy and pleasant and soft at heart. To imagine him mowing down two people, even if defense, was hard, but they knew it was true by the slightly haunted look that was on his face

"We can't stay here," James answered. "If we get stopped by the cops, we're gonna end up in jail for what we did. Until we solve this, we need to get somewhere else. Somewhere safer and where they won't think to look for us. Prison is gonna end things for us."

"I don't wanna go to jail!" Carlos started freaking out at the idea of prison. He was small and nice. He would not do well in prison with big crazy men. He would get destroyed over and over again every day.

"We won't…" Kendall promised. He looked to Frankie, "You don't think we can-"

"Oh hell no," he shook his head. "I did not sign up to have my house used as a hotel, nor did I sign up to do what I just did. I gave you all the help you need and now I'm taking my kids and leaving. Goodbye…" he grabbed the bag from Jo and his brother from Camille before he started walking.

He stopped when he heard James talk. "I'll rat you out about this and say you were here." He turned to see James staring at him with an intense glare. "I mean it."

"You-" he stopped himself when he realized his daughter was listening. "You… Damn!" he was trapped. James would rat him out. He was that kinda asshole from what he's seen. He couldn't go to jail. If he did, his kids would get put into foster care and the last thing he needed was for his two kids to be sent to a place away from him. He swallowed all the curses he felt coming up. This was for his kids. Playing hotel manager now was to keep his babies in his life.

Jo glared at James, "That was dirty." James shrugged, not caring what she said. He was doing his best to stay in the game and to save Logan and the Kendall's mom and sister and would do anything. But, if he was being honest, he wasn't gonna rat Frankie out. He just said that so he would help them some more. He was a strong ally to have, despite being an asshole. Plus, he couldn't be held responsible for sending Nate and Katelyn to foster care. He would never forgive himself for it.

"All's fair in love and war. And this is war now." He said.

"As much as I hate to admit it, James is right. That was dirty what he did…" Kendall glared. "Sending people out to spy on us and what we're doing. Of all the goddamn nerve." Kendall decided to keep the fact that there was one more guy out there somewhere a secret between him and the guys. They would find him and figure something out and handle it accordingly with no more killing involved. So… James wasn't gonna be a big factor in deciding what they did. He would probably shoot the guy on sight.

"So… it's just the three of you, right?" Frankie gestured to the three BTR boys in quick succession.

"Nope." Camille piped up. "The three of us, too." Frankie opened his mouth to start ranting and to start turning her down before Camille surprisingly glared at him. "Listen first before you start going crazy," Frankie frowned but listened, knowing that he was gonna get amused by this. "You guys have been through so much in these past two days. You guys must be feeling really stressed right now. James with his shaved head," James scoffed. "Carlos with his guilt," Carlos nodded guiltily. "Kendall must be feeling bad after what he just did…" Kendall looked away because it was true. "Plus, him crying last night about his family showed where his mind is at, even if he does a good job at hiding it." Kendall opened his mouth to retort, but he shut up because he didn't know what to say. "And I don't need to say why Frankie is stressed and messed up." If his hands weren't full, he would flip her off."

"We're your friends and we wanna be there for you guys," Lucy explained. Watching the guys destroy themselves wasn't fun for her to do. She watched James guilt-ridden, she saw Kendall cry, and she saw Carlos dying. She had enough of sitting on the sidelines and wanted to step up and do what she could for the three of them.

"This is not a game," James warned. "This is dangerous. Look at what just happened to us."

"All the more reason to have more help." Jo piped up. "You guys did great on your own, but we're not gonna sit back and let you destroy yourselves. We know you have to keep going with the challenges, but we're not gonna let you endure it all alone like we've been doing." Maybe, she thought, just maybe if they helped from the start, James wouldn't be crazy and on the brink of madness like he is now.

Kendall didn't like it, but their minds were made up. He didn't want to risk the lives of his other friends after what happened with Logan and his mom and sister, but they would come after them anyway. They knew where Frankie lived after this morning. Better to have them where he knew where they were instead of them sneaking up on them. Kendall sighed. He just wasn't catching a break at all today. First David, Jason, and Randall, then the unknown location of Richard, and now his girl friends wanting to get themselves involved with this dangerous journey.

"What do we do?" Jo asked her ex-boyfriend, wanting to do what ever she could to help. The boys shouldn't have to endure everything alone, no matter how strong they were. They were gonna go crazy with guilt and pain if they did. James was clearly heading down that path and Jo didn't want to see Kendall and Carlos fall down that path too and wanted to help pull James out too.

Kendall cupped his chin in thought before pulling out five twenty dollar bills. "Alright, Lucy and Camille go to the store and buy two weeks worth of food." He handed the money to Lucy. "I, James, Carlos, and Frankie need to do something else before we pack it up and move on to Casa Wilson."

"You're pushing it." Frankie warned the smirking blonde. He looked down to his daughter, who was still waiting for an answer on whether Jo can sleep over or not. "Honey… how you would like to have everyone stay at our house for two whole weeks."

Katelyn gasped in joy. "Really?!" when her dad nodded, she gave him a kiss on his cheek. "Thank you, Daddy!"

"You're welcome, sweetie."

"Hey! It was my idea!" James whined, smirking when Frankie glared darkly at him, his protective dad glare coming into full effect towards the bald boy. "Just saying…" he held his hands up in defense.

"I'll take her so you can do what ever it is you guys have to do." Jo retook Katelyn while she also grabbed Nate. "We'll meet in the lobby in a few minutes."

"Bye, Daddy." Katelyn waved goodbye to her dad as she and Jo, along with the sleeping Nate, headed down to Jo's apartment.

Frankie waved bye to his daughter as the boys walked back towards and into Apartment 2J, all four of them getting uneasy as they stared at the dead bodies of the three people who tried to kill them. He rolled his eye after staring at David, not regretting a thing and didn't care that he killed him. He did what he had to do. He had no more patience when it came to people and he tried to kill him first. It was in defense and that made him feel better about what he did.

Frankie opened his phone and wrote down David's name in it. He had to add it to the list.

Kendall exited his bedroom, a bag of clothes ready in his hand. He felt the bile come back up after looking at Randall and Jason. He still didn't feel good about what he did. "We need to leave. I think I hear cop sirens in the distance."

James followed after him, his own bag ready. "Yeah, like I said before, let's go. Carlos!" the bubbly boy stepped out his own room with a bag slung over his shoulder. "Let's go before we get caught."

"Aren't we gonna look for Richard?" he asked as he stepped around Randall's dead body, his chest constricting as he stared at the hole in the man's forehead.

James shrugged, "We have no way of finding him. He can be anywhere and we don't have time to look for him with the other three rows of challenges just waiting to be completed."

Kendall nodded, "James is right. If we could, we would find him, but we need to focus on saving Logan, Katie, and Mom. Besides, it's not like he's gonna walk through the front door and reveal himself to us anyway." He laughed.

"David?" a voice called out from the hallway, Kendall questioning how he kept doing that with every time he said something like that before the four boys started to hide. Carlos dove into the swirly slide, Kendall hid behind the counter, James stood behind the door to his and Kendall's room and Frankie took a hiding spot behind the wall by the front door. "Jason? Randall? I heard gunshots." A boy around eighteen appeared in the doorway. He stood at around 5'10 with short brown hair, brown eyes and a slight toned body. He wore a black sweater with a white t-shirt underneath with light blue jeans and gray sneakers. He stepped in, tripping over Jason's fat dead body. "Oh my-"

Frankie wrapped an arm around his neck, placing his revolver on the newcomer's temple. "Shut up… Shut up or I will kill you…" he growled in his ear. The stranger nodded his head slowly. "What's your name?" he asked as Kendall, James, and Carlos came out of their hiding spots.

"R-Richard." He breathed out. Kendall and the rest sighed, having figured that out when he asked for David and the other two men that they killed. They weren't sure what to do now. They had Richard. What did they do with him?

"You work for The Painter Killer and I wanna know where he is…" James growled in his face.

"I-I don't know where. He never let me see. I-I always wore a blindfold."

"You don't wanna do this now? Fine." Frankie hit him in the back of the head with the revolver, knocking the boy unconscious. The boys stared at him. "What? It felt like the right thing to do in the moment." He defended himself.

Carlos eyed him, "So… what do we do now?" he was right. What did they do now? Did they bring him or leave him here? The latter didn't sound bad, but he's seen their faces now. He could tell the killer that they were getting outside help or tell the cops that it was Big Time Rush that killed these people. Either way, they were screwed unless they took him.

"Kill him…" James muttered the answer they all saw coming from him.

"No!" Kendall shook his head. "No more killing." He sighed. "Look… Frankie, I'm sorry to say this, but we'll take him to your house, question him and then figure out what to do once we got what we need out of him, but we're not gonna kill him. Aren't you tired of doing that?" James glared, but reluctantly nodded his head.

Frankie growled, "We got too much shit on our heads now. I did not sign up for this." He ran a bloody hand through his hair.

Kendall smiled apologetically. "Sorry."

James hoisted Richard over his shoulder. "We should just kill him…"

"James." Kendall growled warningly towards his shaved head friend, who glared at him.

"I'm telling you, this is stupid. It's just more shit we don't need to deal with." James explained himself. He laughed. "You're the so-called leader of this team and you've made nothing but mistakes since we started this."

"He's kept humanity, he's comforting his friends, and he saved my life." Frankie defended Kendall, figuring he owed him at least that for saving his life.

"Like I said… nothing but mistakes." Comforting friends wasn't a mistake, but keeping humanity was stupid. If they kept that, they would've been dead six times over by now. James was the first to push away that humanity and look at him now; he could do anything and whatever he wanted too to save Logan and Kendall's family. He killed two people and was tougher than he ever was. He was in great shape to save Logan and the girls, he convinced himself.

He ignored the nagging and pain in his chest as he thought of Otis and Brad.

End of Chapter 14 of Heavy Blood

James is still nuts and crazy.

I loved that Jo/Katelyn bonding scene. Those two are so cute. And Frankie thinks Jo is hot. ;)

Kendall killed two people and we learned Frankie killed four people, now five because of David.

I'm now at a tie for having James or Frankie as my favorite character. If it doesn't bother you guys, can you pick which one you feel is a better character and why? It would mean a lot to me and I'll give you guys a shoutout in the next chapters.

For the Kames lovers, you'll be getting a Kames centered chapter in chapter 16. We'll see some awesome stuff between them. Stuff I've had planned since the start. James is still not done with his craziness, but he might be coming back from the dark realms of his mind soon… hopefully.

Also, give '_**Concealed Enmity**_' by Alethea 13 a chance. It's really good and deserves feedback.

And give '_**Big Time **__**Reminiscence**_' by Franshes a chance. It's really good and one of my favorite Kames stories.

Next chapter is just gonna be talking between the group on what to do with Richard. The reason for that is to show where the boys' mindsets are at after everything they've been through these past fourteen chapters.

Next Time: Decision __


	15. Decision

Disclaimer: Don't own Big Time Rush

AN: **I loved all the feedback I got for the last chapter and how people responded to Kendall taking out Jason and Randall. Kendall will become more badass as we go along with the story, possibly the most badass out of everyone with how he handles and deals with later events.**

**James will come back to his senses soon, but next chapter is where the recovery starts… kinda.**

**This chapter is more of a focus on Frankie's character and more backstory on him and how the group handles dealing with Richard. On the bright side for all you Kames lovers, next chapter will be ALL them. It's an epic one and one of my favorites in the story and you guys will love it too, I promise.**

**Enjoy**

Chapter 15- Decision

Irony.

That was the only thought flowing through Frankie's head as he threw a dart to the dartboard that he had set up in his room as he sat on his bed. His right hand was bent as he prepared to throw another one with his left hand holding a folded piece of paper in a fierce grip. His right eye now had an eye patch on instead of the bandage that he had been wearing for a few days, his left one narrowed and hardened as he aimed for the middle of the board.

He was a few feet to the left when the dart landed.

He thought of irony again as he turned his head slightly to the group of people that were occupying his living room. He had swore after his friend's death to forget about making any kind of relationships with people other than his kids, the pain and effort not worth it in his eyes to keep them. He wouldn't say he had any kind of relationship with these people, other than a respect for Kendall and Carlos and tension with James, but those still weren't really considered a relationship in his eye. Relationships symbolized a love and caring feeling for someone and a promise for a future with them no matter what kind of relationship it was. He couldn't see a long-term future with any of these people. He couldn't see a lot of things anymore.

He threw another dart, landing just under the bull's-eye.

He didn't know why his dumb ass agreed to taking them to his house. Other than James' threat of revealing to the cops what he had done to David in their apartment, there wasn't any reason why he was still with these people. He didn't realize until they had settled their 'hostage', Richard, into the trunk of their car that if James would've told the cops about what he did, then he would be revealing to them the horror that his friend had done when he killed Jason and Randall. He could've kicked them out then and there and threatened death if they talked to him again, but didn't. He didn't know why until he had come up here and started throwing darts.

The soft giggle coming from next door answered his question.

Frankie would do anything for his baby. She was more important to him than anything or anyone else in the world, sans Nate, and had been one of the only good things in his life. His parents and he didn't have the best of relationships, treating him like shit since he got Katelyn's mom pregnant; making him harden himself away from them over the course of the past three, almost four, years. He was sad when they were taken and when their bodies were delivered to his doorstep all mangled of course. Those were still his parents and he wished that they and his sister were given proper burials instead of him having to burn their bodies with gasoline and blown into the wind. He just didn't have the money for that. All money he earned from Fun Burger went to his daughter and his brother and what they needed.

His sister, Kathy, was one of the few good things that had happened to him. She was the only one who had cared and bothered to help him when his daughter was born and when he had decided it would be 'cool' to start drinking. The smack, the verbal beat down, and the tears that were shed was one of the memories that Frankie cherished with her. He wasn't happy he was stupid and had started drinking, but that the memory showed that she cared about him. It showed that there was someone that loved him enough to make his life better and that he was worth something. He wondered if she would think that now after all the horror and shit that he had done. She would probably look at him with more anger and sadness then he did at her dead body.

He completely missed the board this time, hitting the wall below it; the dart falling lifelessly to the rug beneath.

He was forced to stare at the picture that was on the nightstand when he looked to see where the dart would land. He was forced to stare at himself with two eyes and a large grin, a pretty blonde girl holding a newborn baby, and another boy with dark hair and a small smirk on his. What he wouldn't give to go back to those days; days when things were normal and happy; days where he could wake up and not worry about killing someone or worrying about whether he was going to die or not. What he wouldn't give to at least have them back.

His best friend and his ex-girlfriend.

He had watched them both die. He was forced to see the life fade from both of their eyes. He rubbed his left eye as he stared at the faces of them both. His ex-girlfriend Elena was one of his greatest accomplishments in his life, the birth of their baby being the biggest. They were like a couple in some crappy Hollywood movie. There's a guy who's a nerd; there's a pretty girl who's the most popular girl in school; they get together through some chain of events, in his case the events were drugs, alcohol and a party; and they have a baby together. Before that party, she never gave him the light of day but he liked her, as everyone in school did, and he had slept with her. After that, they raised their baby as best as they could and had gotten together at their high school graduation when she had kissed him in front of everyone and were looking forward to a happy life together.

And then it was ripped apart and out from under them like some kind of cheap rug. She had gotten poisoned like Carlos had, lost her hand, and lost her life due to the blood loss from losing her hand. She had died in his arms in the hospital after it was revealed she couldn't be saved. They said 'I love you' one more time before she passed on. That was a horrible night for him and his baby girl, who couldn't stop crying when he broke it to her that her mom wasn't coming back.

And then his freakin' best friend got killed too that same night.

Frankie growled and threw the next dart towards the smirking boy's face, knocking the picture down as a tear escaped his left eye. Isaiah was his best friend his whole life, mostly because he couldn't get any other friends for some reason. He tried, he did, but no one gave him the light of day and after awhile, he settled for the drug addict and alcoholic as his one and only friend. Despite all the fights they had, Frankie did care for him like he was his own brother, even killing two people in a bar fight for him after the boy went to get wasted after completing his second challenge. Frankie had followed him to get him to come back and after Isaiah talked and shoved the wrong person, Frankie had been forced to kill two people that tried to stab his friend by shooting them after getting stabbed in the stomach himself. He rubbed at the scar on his stomach. Despite saving his life, it didn't do much in favor of the argument that they've been having a lot at that point:

The argument of who was Katelyn's real father.

As much as it pained him to admit it, there was a chance that Katelyn was Isaiah's child. At that party where he slept with Elena, Isaiah was rolled on his back on the other side of the bed. Apparently that whole party was just a way for him to try and get Elena in bed and didn't count on Frankie sleeping with her too. They both slept with her that same night and thus, any one of them could be the baby's father. Elena had chosen him when he stepped up, got a job, and stood by her when she got pregnant when Isaiah only argued with him and told him that the baby was his and not Frankie's. He and Elena agreed no DNA test. Isaiah didn't care enough to do anything other than be there at the birth and scream in Frankie's face over who was the father of the child. Elena had told Isaiah that Frankie was the dad and that was final. Frankie never forgot the angry look on Isaiah's face. A look that promised pain and misery to him. The threat didn't come to light until three years later on the night of Elena's death.

When he called him and informed him that Elena had died, he said he would be right over. Frankie heard the tone in his voice. It was hollow and devious. He was just grateful that he didn't die on that night when Isaiah showed up and argued with him outside his house. It was mostly about now how he caused Elena to die by not helping her and for letting her take his challenge as her own. Frankie was supposed to lose the hand, but Elena felt that since he lost his eye, he shouldn't have to lose his hand too.

Frankie dropped the next dart in his hand. The yelling; the insults; the hurt that was in his heart. He felt and heard it all again as Isaiah yelled to him that he was gonna kill him and take 'his' daughter back. Frankie had managed to calm him down before out of the blue, Isaiah died. He fell to the ground with a hole in his chest and had bled out on the concrete outside his house. Frankie remembered how he yelled and screamed over his body. How can he forget? It only happened a week ago.

He lost his best friend and ex-girlfriend that same night and along with himself. After Isaiah died, he completely hardened and became the man he was now: Angry; vengeful; guilt-ridden; and forced to play the asshole card to avoid getting hurt again. As much as he now hated Isaiah, he still wished he was alive now. Anything to have a piece of his old life now.

Thinking of his former best friend made him look to the open door and down the staircase to his living room where Kendall and his friends were sitting. James was too much like Isaiah. The attitude he had, the angered look, the tension that was ready to break; he had lived it all before. Frankie felt pity for Kendall. The reason being because they were like a mirror for him and Isaiah, only their friendship was a lot stronger, and it was gonna end the same way as it did for them before long if James kept acting like this.

James was a danger to everyone around him. He was wallowing in his guilt over killing two people and was taking it out on people who wanted to help him. He snapped at Kendall and Carlos when they wanted to help him and was brushing away anything that pertained to helping him. Frankie wasn't gonna help him. If he tried too, James would piss him off too much and he would get into a fight with him. Anything that reminded him of Isaiah now pissed him off. He warned Kendall before how James was a time bomb waiting to go off and that he needed to do something about it before it was too late. Kendall had brushed him off, ignoring him and his warning about James. Frankie didn't take it to heart. Kendall didn't want to accept how damaged James was now and how he was dangerous now. Frankie didn't tell him just what kind of dangerous James was.

If Kendall didn't deal with James soon, the bald boy was gonna try to kill him.

Frankie saw the duo of Kendall and James as the parallel to him and Isaiah. Kendall was Frankie, the boy who was trying to lead peacefully and trying to do the morally right thing to do, while James was Isaiah, the boy who shred any kind of guilt and shame he had and was doing anything it took to accomplish his goals. Isaiah attempted to kill him that night he died and James was gonna follow suit and try to kill Kendall if the blonde boy didn't do something. Frankie waited too late and Isaiah got killed. Frankie didn't want Kendall to do what he had to do with James. The blonde boy didn't need to become like he was. Frankie would do anything to prevent anyone from becoming as unstable and psychotic as he was.

He opened the piece of paper that was in his left hand as he glanced at the contents on it. It had five words on it. It had five names. The names of all the people that he killed:

Dave.

Tony.

Tomas.

Frankie couldn't look at the next name. He instead looked at the recently added name of David.

He kept this small list as a reminder to what kind of person he was now. While he knew he was a loving father to his kids, if you took them out of the equation; he was a murderer and bigger loser than he ever was. He didn't want to ever forget the names of all the lives he took. He never wanted to forget why he was so screwed up and why he was an asshole now, although he would never forget for as long as he lived. He glared at the list, hoping to be able to add the Painter Killer to it someday; the only name he wouldn't mind having on here.

He twirled the last dart in his hand as he heard Kendall call his name from downstairs. It was time, he guessed. Kendall had asked for a few minutes to get Richard tied in the basement and so Frankie can get his kids settled in bed before they started. Nate was sleeping in the crib a few feet away from his own bed while Jo handled his daughter, the smaller blonde girl asking for the older one to do her hair for her. That left Frankie alone for a few minutes until Kendall was ready to decide what to do with Richard. He brought him here; it was his problem to solve. Frankie was just the 'hotel manager', but apparently his opinion made a difference. He didn't buy it. He was only good for killing people and taking care of babies. He would only be good if they decided to kill Richard, which James was all for.

He slammed the dart into the paper with the names of the people he killed, leaving the paper on the nightstand as he walked over to Nate's crib and kissed his sleeping head before he walked out and gently closed the door behind him.

The dart was stuck in the middle of Isaiah's name.

…

Kendall did a headcount after Frankie took a seat in the chair next to Carlos. Everyone was here now. Frankie was the last to arrive after Jo had come walking down a minute ago. They could do this now. Before he, James, and Carlos could continue with the challenges, they needed to decide what to do with Richard. They needed to decide whether they had to kill him or if they could drive him away from the house and forget his existence. Richard didn't know Frankie was helping them, so Logan and his mom and sister would be safe from any unnecessary pain that would be implanted on them by the killer if they decided to let him go. But that wasn't good enough for James, who was glaring at him from across Frankie's kitchen table with his arms folded at his chest.

James hasn't stopped glaring at him since they put Richard in the back of the BTR mobile. During the ride, unloading the unconscious boy, and putting him in Frankie's basement, James kept his hateful glare plastered on and directed at him. Was James really anxious and willing to kill someone who was all but innocent in this? Richard didn't try to kill them. He stayed away and didn't have the chance to hurt them or attack them yet, so there wasn't any reason for them to not just drive him away far enough where they can't follow them back. James didn't think like that. All he saw was Richard, a possible threat, and a bullet to the head.

"Alright," Kendall placed his hands flat on the table. "As you all know now, we have a choice to make when it comes to our 'friend'." Kendall looked to make sure everyone was focusing on him. They were. "We can either kill him or we can just lead him far away from where we are now. The reason why I killed those men was because they would've informed the killer that we were getting outside help and would've hurt Logan and my mom and sister."

"Not to mention they would've killed us." Carlos reminded, not liking the idea of having to kill anyone else. To the boy sitting next to Lucy, there was no need for unnecessary death and it should be avoided as much as it could. He was the one who had come up with the idea to drive Richard away and not kill him.

Kendall nodded towards Carlos, "Let's see where everyone stands… All those in favor of killing him." James' hand shot up right away. Kendall looked to see if anyone else would raise theirs. No one did. "Looks like we're driving him away."

James slammed his hand on the table, "Are you freakin' kidding me! You want to let this guy go back out there?! Once he gets back to his boss and says that we're getting outside help, Logan and your family will suffer for it. Are you willing to let that happen, Ken-Idiot?!" Kendall visibly flinched from the hurtful nickname. James turned his glare to Frankie. "How about you? Do you agree with this?"

Frankie shrugged. "Carlos was right to bring up driving him away. In case you missed it James, there's a news report on you guys now for our little 'massacre' in your apartment." On the way here, there was a radio broadcast over the news feed that Big Time Rush was to be found and taken into the police station for questioning on the dead bodies found in their apartment. Things were already hard enough for them without the cops on their tail now. "Having another murder under your belt isn't really worth it."

James growled before he smirked, coming up with an idea. "If this guy gets back to the killer, he'll come after you, your brother, and your daughter."

Frankie glared at the bald boy, his hand balling into a fist under the table. He stood up and jabbed a finger in James' direction. "You will _**never **_bring up my kids like that again! You're lucky I'm letting you stay here. Your stupid threat can't work now that the cops are coming after. I can easily force you all out, but I won't. Don't push me, Diamond!" he growled. He was eased into his seat when Jo grabbed his other hand and pulled him gently down back into his seat.

James scoffed, "I'm trying to help keep your kids safe, which you aren't doing by agreeing to let this threat go…"

"You have _**no **_idea about the things I've done to keep my kids safe!" Frankie threw Jo's hand off of him and stood back up, knocking his chair over in the process from the force and power of his jump. "I did things that _**none **_of you could ever dream of doing. You listen to me James and you listen to me well… If you ever… _**ever**_… tell me I can't keep my kids safe again, I will make you pay. You're on strike two… you don't want to know what happens after strike three…"

Kendall eyed the look that was shared between James and Frankie before he intervened. "James, stop right now. Leave him alone. We're doing this and he won't find us or him. He was unconscious the whole way here."

"Let's go over the facts," James was now re-directing his glare to its original occupant. "You killed three of their men, took another one hostage, we're cheating by getting outside help, and this guy isn't just gonna try and screw us over?" he raised an eyebrow at Kendall, waiting to see what he said next; knowing it was gonna make him laugh.

"He wasn't in the apartment, James. The only ones who know about our outside help are dead. The killer won't know…" James opened his mouth. "And don't bring back up the idea of beating the location of the killer out of him. He said he didn't know and he wasn't in a position to lie to us." James had suggested before they kill Richard that they find out where the killer is hiding out so they wouldn't have to do the rest of the challenges, Frankie agreeing with him before Kendall shot it down with the same words he just said.

James stood up from his chair, "You really are an idiot, Kendall. You've done nothing but make mistakes since this all started." He laughed, running a hand through his bald head. "You know what? Fine, I'll agree to this. I'll go with you, just you," he gave a pointed look to Carlos and Frankie. "And I'll be there to say 'I told you so' when you finally come to your senses." James disappeared into the upper level of Frankie's house, but not before saying, "We leave first thing in the morning." He spoke like a leader, smirking to Kendall as he left to the room that he and Carlos were sharing. Kendall didn't feel comfortable in the same room as James for the moment, so he was staying on the couch.

Kendall sighed after James left, "He's really coming unhinged."

"Gee, you think?" Camille sarcastically asked.

"Kendall," the blonde boy looked to Frankie. "I need to talk to you… alone." Kendall nodded before he looked to the rest of their group. "Case dismissed." He said as Carlos and the girls exited the room to give them privacy. Kendall looked back to the one-eyed man. "What is it?"

"You need to listen to me and listen to me well," Kendall raised his eyebrows, but nodded for him to continue, knowing that if Frankie was talking to him directly it must be important. "James is really close to breaking. You need to make a choice."

"A choice about what?" Kendall didn't like the way Frankie was talking to him. The warning tone wasn't something Kendall liked when it came from the man in front of him. He had seen enough shit to make that tone worse than it should be.

"You need to talk to James and get him to calm down or you have to kill him." Kendall gasped, appalled at the sudden statement.

"Are you serious?! What the hell is wrong with you? Why are you telling me to kill my best friend?"

"If you don't get him to calm down, he's gonna try to kill you." Frankie placed a thumb on his chest. "I'm speaking from experience here, Kendall, and I owe you one for saving my life. If you don't get him to calm down, he will try to kill you. Did you see the look on his face when he said he wanted to go alone with you? He's planning this, Kendall; I can tell. He's way too much like my old best friend."

"And how's that?" Kendall asked, still angry at Frankie for suggesting for him to kill James, despite his reasoning.

"He tried to kill me…" Frankie gulped, biting his lip. "So… I had to kill him." Kendall would've gasped, but he was too much in shock over what he heard. Frankie had to kill his best friend? And his best friend was like James? Could he be right? Kendall shook his head. He couldn't be. James wasn't like that. Kendall knew him. James would never try to kill him no matter what.

"I'm warning you, Kendall. You either have to talk to him or kill him. He's gonna try to kill you. You can avoid this by talking to him and convincing him to come back to his senses. I waited too late and I had to kill my best friend," Frankie gave Kendall the first look of sympathy he had in a long time to the blonde boy in front of him. "I don't want you to have to go through what I did, so I'm warning you in advance. Either talk to him or kill him."

Kendall made his decision.

He had to talk to James. He didn't want to kill him. He didn't have it in him, but James didn't either. James wouldn't try to kill him…

Right?

End of Chapter 15 of Heavy Blood

Just a branch chapter and a look into Frankie's past. There's still more to come from that.

Poor Kendall. He doesn't want to believe James can kill him. He has to talk to him now or he has to kill him.

How did you like Frankie's past?

Are you looking forward to the Kames centered chapter next time? I sure am.

Next Time: 18 Miles Out


	16. 18 Miles Out

Disclaimer: Don't own Big Time Rush

AN: **Time for the epicness that is this chapter. This is by far one of my favorite chapters in the entire story and of any chapter I've ever written. Once you read it, you'll know why I love this chapter so much.**

**Just a quick heads up, you might not like what James does in this chapter, but I hope that you won't stay mad at him for it. He's still a little nuts, but the beginning of this chapter reveals why he's been so nuts since chapter 9, which is also one of my favorite chapters in the story.**

**No more stalling.**

**Enjoy**

Chapter 16- 18 Miles Out

Kendall shifted in the driver's seat of the BTR Mobile, feeling a little apprehensive over the events that were going on today. He woke on the couch in Frankie's house with sleep still clouding his mind and with heavy eyes as the task to bring Richard out away from the house loomed over his head. He felt like it had to be him that did it since it was really his idea to bring the boy to the house in the first place, which earned him a bunch of scorn from James.

Speaking of the bald boy, he sat in the passenger seat beside him; his dark and hardened eyes glancing out the window, a hand under his chin giving his head support. He hadn't spoken to him today other than giving him a reminder when it was time to get Richard from the basement and go. The warning that Kendall received the previous night from Frankie also loomed over his head next to the little task that he and James were dealing with right now.

The warning over James possibly attempting to kill him.

Kendall didn't want to, but last night as he sat on the cushions of Frankie's living room couch, he couldn't help but to think over that warning. James was his best friend and has been for many years. Kendall hadn't seen a single bad or evil action come from James and strongly felt that James didn't have an evil bone in his body. The worst thing he's seen James do was lie and even then, it wasn't about anything crucial or that important. Despite Frankie comparing him to his deceased best friend that he had killed, Kendall did his best to try and find differences between both situations and predicaments. James wasn't like that. He loved his friends and family, which is why he was forced into doing these tasks in the first place that were changing him so fast. Kendall respected Frankie's warning, but he had held onto the idea that James, although thinking he was making mistakes, wouldn't try to kill him or do anything to hurt him. He was a good man and great friend.

But then the box came to the house and everything that they knew had changed.

Within three days, James had completely changed his personality and appearance into something that Kendall didn't like to see. The darkness, the anger, and the evil didn't suit James at all and the bald head really pissed Kendall off to no end for reasons as such. It was the catalyst that altered James into something Kendall knew he wasn't. Kendall didn't think James would ever get rid of his hair, but knew that there had to be a reason for it. He only had been bald at one other point in his life and it was when Jenny Tinkler had accidently blown it off in eighth grade and ever since then, James had always taken extra precautions to ensue that he always had a head of hair on him. So, it stunned and confused Kendall greatly when he had stepped foot into the apartment yesterday to find him bald and even angry for apparently no good reason. That bald head symbolized the pieces of his old friend being destroyed and killed along with the two men that he had ended.

The happy and friendly James that had been by his side through thick and thin for many years wasn't anywhere to be seen in the cold exterior of the James that was sitting next to him. This James was dark, angry, and, as much as it scared Kendall to say it, a murderer. James didn't appear to have any remorse or shame over his actions the past three days. It was like doing horrid deeds such as taking the life of a man didn't stick to his soul and just slid off like a wet napkin on a wall. The James that had finger-painted with him in Kindergarten and helped him get dates with girls wouldn't have even brought up taking the life of a man. He would've been horrified at the thought, not being the first one in line to put a bullet in someone's head; like how he wanted to do to the man in the trunk of the BTR Mobile.

Kendall would be lying if he said that James didn't look good with the shaved head. He could rock any and all appearances that he tried, having done it many times over his life. But Kendall despised this bald head. It was just a reminder that his friend had fallen off the deep end and was turning into a monster. Even though Kendall was grateful that James had saved his life yesterday, he hadn't hesitated to kill Brad. Not one bit. And when Kendall saw him holding the gun, all that James was concerned with was criticizing him over not doing it himself and with getting the next piece to the puzzle.

That moment showed Kendall his best friend wasn't well in the head, but he couldn't say he was either. He had been holding in all of his anger and guilt as best he could over his family and Logan. They were the only things on his mind now, even as he drove down the roads of California with a man in the trunk of the car and his psycho best friend beside him. He had failed as a protector. He was the protector of the family and always had been since his dad had left many years ago, which stunned Kendall greatly, having always loved his dad and having had a great relationship with the man before his unexpected departure.

Kendall felt his body shiver as he recalled the reasons why he had killed Jason and Randall. Besides the obvious and most practical reason that he and his friends would've possibly been killed had he not acted as fast as he did, there was another reason that propelled the moment the threat became apparent. Again, Kendall shivered as he remembered exactly why he had pulled the trigger in the first place.

He wanted to prove to James that he wasn't worthless.

Kendall felt like an idiot for killing two people just to prove a point to James. That wasn't normal and it showed that Kendall was suffering from the chaos that they were dealing with now. He had been the most 'normal' out of him, James, and Carlos since they found the box, but even he was starting to change greatly. He murdered two people just to prove to his best friend that his earlier words about doing anything and everything to protect his family wasn't just a tub of crap. He also killed them so Logan and his family wouldn't get hurt over their decision to seek outside help and because he wanted to protect James and Carlos like he couldn't to his mom, sister, and Logan; but the main reason that jumped to his head when he thought of the bodies of the men he killed was because he wanted to prove to James that he wasn't worthless.

Kendall detested his reasoning, but it was what it was and he needed to live with it. It was done. Jason and Randall were dead by his hands. He just hoped he wouldn't have to do anything else horrid just to prove a point to the boy next to him, who was eyeing him through the reflection of the rear-view mirror.

Kendall needed to have this talk with James now while it was just the two of them. He didn't want to have this conversation with Carlos anywhere near them, not sure how to explain to the boy who was considered the most fragile out of all of them that one of his best friends might want to kill another one. Carlos would die if he knew what James was possibly planning. He idolized James, although Kendall wasn't sure if he did now after James' change, but the hurt and pain wouldn't be any less if he didn't.

His foot stepped on the brake, pulling the car to a slow stop in a secluded street. Kendall had to take the longer road where there were less people, their fame now turning into infamy after the little incident in 2J that ended with three men dead. They were being searched for by the police so they can be questioned over what happened in the apartment. By now too, the realization of Logan, his mom, and sister's disappearances should be common knowledge. So, they might be asked about that too and as much as Kendall would like to have this problem dismissed as soon as it could, they needed to find their family first. They still had a long ways to go and this Richard thing was eating away at time that they didn't have. They only had eleven days now and needed to utilize all the time that they could from it.

He ignored James' confused stare as he stepped out of the car, his gun situated at the front of his pants as he glanced around. There wasn't a soul to be seen in this part of California, but Kendall knew that could change at any moment. The streets didn't stay quiet for long no matter where you were in this town. This talk, if he wanted it to be done with just the two of them, had to happen now.

James followed him out of the car, keeping his gun settled at the helm of his back. He shut the door as he glanced around at where they were, possibly thinking that Kendall had chosen this as the drop zone for Richard. While it looked good enough, Kendall felt that it wasn't far away enough. Richard wasn't even a priority right now in his mind. All he was thinking about was delving into the mindset of James Diamond and pulling out the pieces that were making him act this crazy.

James leaned over the hood of the car, the sun that shined above them creating a glow over his bald head. The sight was so abnormal for the current situation that Kendall thought he was hallucinating when he saw it. When he took a deep breath and blinked his eyes, the light was gone; confirming that he was just imagining it. Kendall's mind was just playing tricks on him.

"I thought we were going further…" James' confused statement brought Kendall back to reality. Kendall glanced around the terrain to make sure that they were still alone. Even if a stranger that was blind and deaf stumbled along, Kendall would still feel weird and awkward about having this conversation. It was already hard for him to talk to James with having the thought of James possibly trying to kill him looming in the back of his head, he didn't something else coming and distracting him.

Kendall looked back to James, who was waiting for his answer. Kendall found himself glancing into the orbs of hazel that belonged to his best friend. There it was: The coldness that had taken James by the neck and worked its way into his psyche and personality. Just staring at the dark hazel made Kendall shiver and almost step back from the complete lack of positivity. James was all negative now and Kendall needed to know why. It wasn't just because of their predicament. Something else was at play here and Kendall had a good idea of where it was coming from.

At the hospital the first night before his second challenge, James was still the same 'ol James that he grew up with. When he came back after getting the antidote for Carlos, he appeared terrified, but otherwise he was still the same James that he loved. And then he went to the apartment the following morning and this James that was staring at him was there and the old loving James was gone.

The events of his second challenge and the aftermath held the answer. He just needed to get James to talk about it and he can find it and talk to him and bring him back to his sanity. Kendall didn't want to have to possibly follow along Frankie's warning and kill James. He saw how Frankie was and didn't want that for himself. Other than his affection and love for his kids, there wasn't anything positive about the guy and it was because he killed so many people… one of them being his own best friend. Kendall didn't want to have to hurt James and felt that he didn't even have the will to do it no matter what James did to him. Kendall wouldn't ever hurt his friends. He wouldn't be able to live with the guilt.

"We are…" Kendall nodded, "Around fifteen to twenty miles out." Kendall took a breath to get his senses in order. Kendall raised his left hand to wipe some sweat that had formed in his hair after he stepped outside the car. His eyes widened when he saw where his right hand was, grateful that he had his back to James so the boy couldn't see.

His right hand was over the grip of his gun.

Kendall quickly moved his hand away from the gun, choosing to ignore the way his body was moving now that he was alone with James. The warning in his head that he received last night was influencing his body's movements even when Kendall wasn't paying attention. His body was trying to keep itself protected from anything James might try. Kendall trusted him still, though. James hadn't done anything to him that was scary or threatening yet, besides yelling and screaming to him; but that didn't mean anything. Just because he yelled more now didn't mean he was really prepared to kill him, despite James' insistence that only he and Kendall came to do this task of dropping Richard off. It was creepy now that James was a little deranged, but Kendall still did his best to look the other way on whatever was underlined in James' actions.

"So… what?" James shrugged; keeping his body settled at the hood of the car, his eyebrow raised and exposing wrinkles that Kendall didn't know where there before when he had hair.

"I wanna talk," Kendall revealed, turning to look at James again in the eye. Green met dark hazel once again. "I just wanna talk." He repeated, hoping to instill the words he wanted to tell in his head and then be able to verbally say them out loud. He was always so good with words and saying the right things in any situation. But, now, with James staring at him dark and angrily, Kendall found it harder to look for the right words. He was worried he would say the wrong ones and get James even more pissed at him.

Kendall walked over to the other side of the car, imitating James' movements as he took a position on the hood of the car. He cleared his throat, knowing he needed to get some words out before James got annoyed and started the journey back up. Kendall wasn't ready to leave the little pit-stop until he and James were okay again. He needed to have his best friend on his side again and not possibly behind or in front of him with a gun raised and ready to pull the trigger without a moments notice.

James rolled his eyes, "We're doing this; I get it. I get it." James didn't seem happy with what he was saying, but swallowed what ever it was he was feeling creeping up to tell Kendall what he wanted to hear. He glanced to the trunk of the BTR Mobile where Richard was tied in. "He doesn't know where we are now, he doesn't Frankie, or the fact we're getting help from him-"

"That's not what I wanted to talk to you about," Kendall knew how much James detested the idea of letting Richard go, but was dealing with it because he was outvoted. Carlos was right about killing being avoided if it could. Their minds were already damaged enough. They didn't need to keep piling up the guilt and trauma like toy blocks.

"I wanna talk about what happened…" James didn't seem to fully understand what he meant, so Kendall elaborated. "I wanna talk about what happened at your second challenge." Kendall watched James flinch, leaving his position on the hood of the car to turn his back to him, his hands running through the shaved head he gave himself. If Kendall wanted to or could, this would be his perfect chance to take James out, but he didn't make a move to do so. He wasn't like that. He wasn't Frankie or The Painter Killer. He wasn't a murderer. He wouldn't kill his best friend.

James lowered his head, his back still turned to Kendall as he took a few steps over to the curb of the sidewalk right next to the car. Kendall watched his every move as he finally looked up towards the sky, a shine in his eyes as he stared up at the sun. Kendall could've sworn he saw tears before James blinked and it was gone; just like in the apartment yesterday when James and he argued when it was just them.

"Nothing." James answered, the short and simple answer almost causing Kendall to slam his hands on the hood in annoyance. He and James both knew that it wasn't just nothing and that the nothing was a something. It had to be something that completely altered James' personality and way of thinking. Kendall couldn't just let James lie to him and push him away. If he did, it would be like Frankie and his best friend all over again from what he said to him. Kendall could tell it was hard for the one-eyed man to tell him the truth behind his friend's murder and only told him so he didn't have to go through the same thing. He appreciated it and wasn't gonna make the same mistake he did.

"You and I both know that's a lie, James." Kendall sighed, trying to bring James' attention up to him no matter how much it hurt to stare in those dark hazel eyes that used to be full of light and energy. Now they only held darkness and negativity. "I won't be mad at you. I know you had to kill someone. I just want to know how it happened. I wanna help you, James."

That got James to look at him, less darkness in his eyes now as he looked at Kendall. Kendall was sure he was watching James turn a dial as his eyes grew more sadness and less darkness as he remembered what he did on that night. He hadn't been the same since and James knew this too. He looked almost relieved that he can tell someone what happened.

"There was this guy Otis," James started, looking away from Kendall and to the street just below him as he sat. "The killer had him hostage for a reason I didn't know at the time," Kendall nodded, waiting for him to continue. He knew it must've not been easy for James to relive what happened and was doing it for Kendall to know the truth. James wanted help and comfort over what happened, but something was holding him back from trying to get it and once James finished telling the story, if he could finish the story, Kendall was sure he would have his answer and he can get his friend back.

"We were together the whole time at the school where the antidote was. I found it really fast and as we were escaping, we were attacked by wild dogs with rabies," Kendall nodded, remembering how James said yesterday about being attacked by dogs while he was out. "We ran to get away and eventually had to stop to catch our breath and, I guess, we became friends. He was a nice guy, Kendall. I told him about Carlos and he agreed to help me escape to save his life. He didn't even know him and he still helped me to save Carlos,"

Kendall smiled, finding respect for this Otis for agreeing to help James escape a dog-infested school to save Carlos.

"We were separated after he got bit by one of the dogs and reunited shortly after I fell from a window and messed up my ankle. I was really lucky it wasn't sprained or broken, it was just in a lot of pain." James gulped, apparently getting scared now. "Kendall? You and Carlos killed by shooting in the head, right?" Kendall nodded, now unsure where James was going with this.

James laughed, "Not me… Not me, man. As it turns out, _**Otis**_was my target the whole time and I didn't know it." Kendall was shocked, starting to slowly figure out why James changed so much after coming back from the school. "One of us wasn't gonna make it out…" James stood up, his hands on his hips as he closed his eyes. "One shot to the leg and Carlos lives."

Kendall's brain finally figured it out. Dogs; Otis; and James shooting him in the leg. It all made sense now. James shot Otis in the leg and left him to die and get ripped apart. James killed one of his friends. But, still, he and Otis were nowhere near as close as he and James were, so Kendall wasn't sure if James would be able to kill him if he wanted to. The nagging in his head told him that if James can kill one friend, no matter how close they were or weren't, what's to stop him from being able to kill him if he wanted to?

Kendall found it funny how he still didn't have a definite answer as to why James would kill him. Just because he was crazy or because he felt he was a drag down on him and the challenges? Kendall never asked Frankie why his best friend tried to kill him and was now wishing he did, if only because he needed more help in how to deal with James.

"That's what the final bullet was used for…" Kendall spoke in realization, remembering the conversation he and James had yesterday when he revealed that he killed four dogs and missed one with the final bullet. Kendall understood now as he watched James slowly nod, confirming his realization. Kendall realized and understood now why James was so nuts and crazy.

"I heard him get ripped apart and damn me to hell as I escaped. I couldn't deal with just living with the guilt; I had to punish myself for doing it. I had to punish myself for giving the man a brutal death like that." James ran his hand through his bald head. Kendall gasped. James shaved his head as punishment? James shaved his prized possession as punishment for what he did? "I had to do it."

"I know you did," Kendall spoke sympathetically, happy that James opened up and that he finally figured out why he was so angry now. He was wallowing in guilt over the way he killed Otis. James wasn't crazy like Frankie accused him of being. He just needed to talk about what he did. Now things can get back to normal between the two of them. Kendall missed having James at his right hand side.

James scoffed, "Yeah, right," Kendall was confused now as James turned to glare at him. "What I did… you wouldn't be able to understand how I feel or how hard it was for me to do that. Don't come here and tell me that you know I did and that you understand me when you don't." Kendall didn't know what was going on. James opened up and they talked. Shouldn't that have been enough to get him to come back to his senses? He was accusing him of being stupid and not understanding him. "You wouldn't have…"

Kendall glared right back, losing patience over James' attitude towards him. He was just trying to help his friend and he gets in his face over it? What kind of bullshit was that? "You don't think I would've done it." Kendall wasn't entirely sure if he really would've done it, but hearing James call him out pissed him off. It was the same argument now. They somehow went from James' guilt to going back to arguing over whether or not Kendall would do anything for his family and friends.

James laughed a goddamn belly-aching laugh as Kendall watched him. James continued laughing for a few seconds, looking and sounding like he just heard the funniest joke in his life. James quickly plastered back on the glare that Kendall has been seeing a lot of lately, smirking too as an added bonus to call Kendall out.

"Nah man… I _**know **_you wouldn't." James eyed him menacingly, his dark hazel eyes back into full effect as he stared into the angry green ones of his best friend.

"You don't think I can help my friends, do you?" James didn't answer, which gave Kendall more of an answer than an out loud verbal one ever could. Just because he kept some humanity and hesitated to kill Brad, James didn't think he was capable to protect his family. Kendall made one little tiny hesitation and now James wasn't letting it go and was holding it over his head. The realization made him want to punch James in the face for being so stupid and ignorant.

Kendall stepped around from the hood of the car and walked to where James was standing, just a few inches away from his face. "To save Carlos' life, I would've done anything… Anything…" he repeated, watching at the way James' eyes slightly widened at the reveal. Now Kendall was sure that if it came down to it, he would've been able to shoot Otis for Carlos. Kendall would do anything for his friends. He proved that when he killed Jason and Randall for his family and friends. He did it to protect them and to help Logan and his family avoid any extra pain for their actions. Why couldn't James see that Kendall was capable of protecting his family? Was it really because he hesitated to kill Brad or was it because of him deciding to not kill Richard? Kendall didn't know.

"Now listen to me, James," Kendall saw that James was giving him all the attention he wanted. "You're acting dangerous and unhinged," James raised an amused brow, finding humor when Kendall was trying to be serious. It was like James knew what he was trying to do and was making him look stupid for doing so. Didn't James want him to help him get better and get back to normal? Kendall was starting to think that maybe, just maybe, James liked his new personality.

"But you're not gonna be dangerous. Not to Carlos, not to me, not anymore." Kendall spoke, his old finesse and spunk as leader of Big Time Rush coming back with a vengeance. Kendall was giving himself a pat on the back as James looked away slightly from his hard gaze, just a little of the old James coming back in this split moment. He always looked ashamed when he did something to upset Kendall, and it made Kendall almost smile seeing it again, but he knew better than to think that James was back now. It wouldn't be that easy. "How about you look at me." James awkwardly looked to Kendall, his eyes looking lost and slightly ashamed. It was like James didn't expect Kendall to act like a leader again and was feeling bad that he thought so. James was definitely a wildcard.

"You aren't dangerous," Kendall said, lowering the level of intensity he was staring at James with. The reason why they were even talking about this is because of James being so intense and angry for his guilt over the way he killed Otis. Kendall could understand why he would be guilty and traumatized, but to this extent with the anger and attitude? No. Something else had to be at play here. James was letting the anger to himself take him over. James was taking his anger of himself out on others. "You act like you are, but you're not. Just because you killed Otis doesn't mean you're evil because of it."

James sighed, staring back at Kendall with a neutral stare. Kendall couldn't see what was inside of James' hazel eyes this time. The anger wasn't there, but neither was the sadness that crept up when he explained how he killed Otis. James was just… staring at him. That's the best way Kendall can explain it. He hoped this meant James was thinking about what he said and was gonna give himself some slack. Kendall felt bad for killing Jason and Randall and Carlos felt bad for killing his target, of course; but it didn't mean they were evil because of it. Kendall didn't know why James had shot Otis specifically in the leg and not the head, but he knew it as a spur of the moment and the only thing going through his head at the time was to do what ever it took to get out and save Carlos.

"Carlos is alive because of me," James said, finally speaking again after letting Kendall do most of the talking in the last few minutes. Kendall didn't interrupt him, but gave him a nod to show that he was right. "The reason why I'm so mad… is because I feel guilty." James answered. He ran a hand through his rough head, which seemed to be a new habit of his now when he talked about anything with these challenges. "Otis was my friend and I murdered him in cold blood. I let Carlos get poisoned because I didn't stop him in time. I was feeling that guilt when I was with Otis."

Kendall watched James take a small breath, trying to calm himself down as he let the guilt once again take him over and affect his actions. James lowered his head in what Kendall assumed to be shame.

"I didn't want to let Carlos die. At the end, when I was down to one bullet, I came to a conclusion." James sighed once again, trying to find the words and say what needs to be said. "One of us wasn't gonna make it out alive. The dogs would've caught us if one of us didn't stay behind. Otis was bitten on the foot anyway, so I already had him pegged as dead. So… I shot him." James hesitated to continue, fear crossing his eyes for the first time in days. "What scares me is that I was thinking of it before it came the time to do it. He was kinda slowing me down beforehand and all I cared about was the antidote. Once Otis was bitten, he was expendable to me."

Kendall didn't know what to say. What could he say? Tell James that it was okay to think like that? It wasn't, but Kendall wouldn't tell him that and get James even angrier at him. Kendall was trying to help James heal, not worsen.

"I killed an innocent man, Kendall. The reason why I feel like such an asshole and why I'm acting like this is because I keep hearing his screams in my head. Carlos gave his victim a quick death. You killed Jason and Randall in quick succession. They didn't even feel the pain." James looked apologetic now. "About Brad…"

"What about him?"

"I killed him so you wouldn't have to," Kendall was shocked. He never found out why James had stumbled up and killed Brad. Kendall didn't even know how James found him and Brad in the first place. "I heard all the gunshots and knew something was wrong. I doubt you were that bad of a shot, which I now know you aren't after how you killed Jason and Randall." Kendall had to smile at that. That was the second time he was praised on his shooting. "I went up and saw that you were about to back out of killing him, and then I saw the gun in his pocket and knew that I had to kill him or it would be you."

James inhaled through his nose, releasing it back out through his mouth; running a hand down his face to wipe off some sweat.

"I'm sorry I acted like an asshole to you about it. I was just stressed over what happened with Otis and I've been letting it take me over," James apologized, Kendall watching his movements to see if any of what he was saying was a lie. He was happy when he saw that there was none. James meant what he said. Kendall felt that he was closer to getting his friend back.

"I don't know how it must've been to kill a friend like you did…" James nodded, Kendall almost rolling his eyes at James' self-pity act over how Kendall doesn't understand how he feels. "But I don't hate you for it. I understand why you did what you did and if I would've been in your place, I would've done the same thing." Kendall gave his support to James for his actions. Kendall could only guess how holding in your pain after doing a morally questionable act could hurt you, especially when you chose to not tell anyone about it. He just wished James would've told him about what happened when they were at the Palm Woods or when he came back with the antidote for Carlos. It would've saved James the guilt and anger he had at himself for what he did.

James gave his friend a small smile, Kendall smiling back before clamping a hand on his shoulder. Kendall was happy that there wasn't so much darkness in James' eyes right now. He didn't think that darkness would fully go away for a long time until he got over what happened, but this was a good start for him. James never liked talking about how he felt, so this was a good step for him to move on. Kendall just hoped that it wouldn't take too long for James to come back in full. Kendall was also happy that he didn't have to worry about James trying to kill him like Frankie warned. He would have to thank him for the warning. He let Kendall save James from himself and avoid the fight that might've happened between them if he wouldn't have opened his mouth.

Kendall wouldn't have been able to live with himself if he had to kill James. He knew he would have become some horrible mess and wouldn't have been able to continue living with the guilt he would feel if had to end his friend's life. James' angry expression and Frankie's depression mixed together would be the best estimate Kendall had for what he would become.

"If I can take back all the things I said, I would." James mentioned as Kendall started walking back to the car. The careful and honest tone that he spoke touched Kendall greatly. Despite having had to kill two people, one to save a friend and one who was a friend to him, James was still a good guy deep down. He was just guilty, not evil. Kendall was glad he dodged this problem, not fully aware that he just wasted his time talking to James.

And it was because of the man in the trunk.

…

Kendall and James had resumed the drive, now looking for a place to drop Richard off far enough so he couldn't follow them back to where they were staying at. Now that Kendall had defused the little problem that he had with James, he can focus entirely on the other problem that he had unknowingly caused by bringing Richard back with them to Frankie's house.

Kendall automatically picked up the new air that had been in the car between him and James. There wasn't anymore tension. There wasn't anymore anger directed at him from the hazel eyed boy next to him. James was of course still annoyed and disagreed with the whole Richard thing, but was being mature in not arguing with Kendall on it anymore. Kendall smiled, taking a quick look to the boy next to him; who was staring at himself in the rear-view mirror, examining his shaved head. Kendall could imagine how mad James was at himself now for getting rid of his favorite treasure. He knew that now he was gonna try and find some hair growth to get it back as fast as he could. Kendall was gonna laugh when it came to that.

Kendall figured that they were almost far enough away to drop Richard off. He was trying to find a place that wasn't too occupied at the moment, but also far enough away that Richard couldn't follow them back if he wanted to. Kendall would prefer somewhere abandoned and dark, which would make the perfect cover for him and James to slip out before Richard even, came to his senses.

James eyed the road ahead of them, looking to Kendall once he finished glancing. "We almost there?"

Kendall nodded, "Yeah. I'm just looking for a place that's far enough. You know, give us some extra distance." He saw James nod and turn his attention back to the road ahead of them. Kendall eyed his friend in the rear-view mirror, "Can I ask you something?" James nodded, Kendall sighing before he asked the question that had been bothering him since he started driving again; a question he would rather have unanswered but knew that he needed the answer. "Why did you want to only come with me? Why not bring Carlos too?"

James stiffened, which Kendall didn't miss. Frankie's earlier words on how James wanted to go alone so he can kill him came back to his head. Kendall knew he probably just messed up the progress he made with the boy next to him, but he couldn't stop the question from coming out. Kendall was not gonna tell James what he thought the answer was, knowing that he would be detonating a bomb and unleashing the angry James all over again. Best to keep his mouth shut on that.

James cleared his throat, nervously rubbing his eyes as he thought of his answer. "I wanted to come alone with you because… I was going to do something horrible and stupid…" Kendall saw James grow sad, feeling waves upon waves of guilt smacking him as he watched him sadden. "I was going to beat the shit out of you for being so stupid and making dumb choices, but I didn't want to do it in front of everyone. I didn't want Carlos to see me hit you." James' eyes shined with unshed tears. "I'm so sorry for even thinking it. I'm so sorry."

Kendall pulled the car aside on the abandoned road they were driving on, an abandoned public works place just a little bit ahead of where they were now. Kendall knew that was the best place to drop Richard off, but now he needed to bring James' spirits back up for asking the stupid question that ruined everything that he had fixed between them. Kendall felt like running himself over with the car for making James so sad.

Kendall eyed his friend, who was lowering his head to avoid staring at him and his concerned green eyes. Kendall was surprised that James' intentions were lighter than he was told they might have been, but was grateful for it somewhat. At least James wasn't as dark and evil as Frankie's late friend. He was happy James apparently had more humanity and care for his friend than Frankie's had.

Kendall placed a hand on his shoulder, "I'm not gonna say what you wanted to do was right, because it wasn't…" James nodded, showing that he understood what Kendall was saying. "You were angry and letting your guilt for Otis affect your judgment and choices." Kendall wasn't realizing that he was making everything bad James did lately go back to him killing Otis and pretty much telling James that it was okay if he did or thought something bad. It was okay because he was grieving over killing a friend when it wasn't really okay. James wanting to beat the shit out of him shouldn't have been brought back to Otis. It was just James being stupid and irrational, but Kendall didn't want to see that; especially since they were on good terms again. It was like the beginning all over again with Kendall refusing to see James as dangerous. He was refusing to accept that James killing Otis didn't guarantee him to act like an asshole and wanting to beat his friend.

James shook his head, "It doesn't matter. I feel like the biggest asshole in the world for thinking what I was thinking of. I really thought I could beat the stupidity out of you," James laughed darkly. "Someone needs to beat the stupidity out of me for thinking something that stupid." James looked at Kendall almost pleadingly, silently asking the boy to be the one that knocked some sense into him.

Kendall shook his head, "I'm not gonna hit you, James." James eyed him confusingly, not sure why Kendall wouldn't want to knock some sense into him over his original intent to beat him for making choices James didn't agree with. Kendall, once again, ignored the nagging in his head that told him that just because James didn't like something; it didn't mean it granted him a free pass to do whatever it was that he wanted to do. Kendall ignored the logical answer that something disturbing was crawling through James' head about his morality and his ideas of beating Kendall just because of slight disagreement. Kendall ignored it because it made his friend look bad and after the conversation the two of them had before, Kendall refused to see anything bad in his friend now. He refused to pick up the small signs that while James was sorry, he was still not all well in the head at the moment.

"I would want to if I was you." James admitted, darting his eyes away from Kendall's; not able to stare at him for the moment. Kendall assumed that his guilt was making him nervous and he was ashamed of what he thought of doing. Kendall didn't see the point in being mad at James when he was already punishing himself over thinking what he thought. "I would want to beat me senseless for acting so stupid. I criticize you for making stupid choices, but yet I want to hurt my best friend just because I was angry." James laughed darkly, "I'm the worst hypocrite ever."

Kendall started rubbing James' back affectionately, trying to calm him down and lessen the guilt that James was feeling for his thoughts. Kendall wouldn't have him feeling any more anger after getting it all out before. James didn't deserve it after what he's been through with Otis. He deserved to be guilt free and somewhat normal again, even if they both knew that the next eleven days wouldn't be anywhere near normal and an undetermined amount of time after that would possibly be worse than these two weeks. It was just now that Kendall noticed that even after these challenges were all said and done, they would still have a bunch of shit to deal with; both emotionally and mentally. He wasn't looking forward to it, but knew it would be worth it and doable if he had Logan and his family back with him.

"No you're not, James. I know that you didn't want to think what you did. You were just angry over everything and were wallowing in your guilt over Otis." Kendall gave James a smile that he was told time and time again by different people that it was charming and game-winning. His smile widened when James smiled back, "Its okay. You know what you thought was wrong and are sorry for thinking it. You're okay now and that's really all I care about. I don't care that you wanted to beat the shit out of me," Kendall missed how James' eyes looked away from him. "You aren't gonna follow through with it and won't think about it again, right?" Kendall smirked playfully at him, treating the fact that James wanted to hurt him as a joke. He usually had that habit to play around with his friends' actions and try to make it look like that they had perfectly good reasons for doing what they did. James and his recently dangerous actions wasn't any different to him, especially now since he defused the time bomb that was ticking over James' head.

James smirked back and shook his head, "Nope. I most guarantee that I won't hit you… unless you start acting like me," he punched his shoulder playfully, which earned him one back from Kendall. "I'm serious though. Don't act like I've been. It's not cool or normal. I don't like the way I've been acting and I don't want to see you follow me down that path."

Kendall laughed, "Like I keep saying, you were just overcome with guilt. You're fine now that you talked about it." Kendall didn't notice James frown slightly and turned away since James did it in such a rapid succession, if you weren't watching him the whole time you would've missed it. "You just need to know something…" James tuned into Kendall's words, watching him with as much attention as he could give him. Kendall gave James a small smile. "You're not a bad guy, James. You're one of the best I've ever met. Just because you did something bad doesn't mean you are. Good people do bad things. Take Carlos for instance," James sighed, knowing what Kendall was about to say.

"The poor boy had to kill an innocent man just to get us closer to finding our family. Carlos is one of the nicest and most innocent-hearted people we know,"

"Not anymore…" James mumbled. Kendall heard him, but chose to ignore his statement. Carlos was just an example right now, not a main priority. He was next on Kendall's agenda to talk to and help with his guilt and anger. Carlos had woken up five times during the night crying over what he did to the man he killed. He was completely guilt-stricken and possibly worse off than James. While James used anger as his coping system, Carlos cried and used sadness as his. Kendall needed to help him with what he did next after this whole Richard thing was done.

"He's one of the best and even he did something bad, but that doesn't make him evil or anything. My dad used to tell me this before he left," Kendall recalled a quote his dad used to tell him when Kendall asked if he did something bad.

"It's only when doing bad things gets easy, that the good people turn evil." He recited. He always held onto that quote as a judge of his character. Every time Kendall lied or did something he thought was bad, he asked himself why he did it and if it was easy. He used this to judge himself after he killed Jason and Randall. It wasn't easy for him and even he had woken up once in the night after having a nightmare over killing them, but he knew it had to be done and he was still good at heart. It wasn't easy to kill them and Kendall knew that if it had been easy, he would've known he was bad; which was why he hesitated over killing Brad before James had done it for him.

"It wasn't easy to kill Otis, or Brad," James answered, looking out to the public works place a couple feet ahead of them as he thought of the two men that he had ended. James twiddled his thumbs as he remembered the shots he had fired that killed both men, his chest constricting as he did.

Kendall gave him a smile, feeling happy that he had made his point. "See? That shows you're still good, James. Don't ever lose sight of who you are." Kendall started driving again. "Let's finish this problem." He gestured to the trunk of the car, James nodding in agreement as they stayed silent for the short drive up the road and into the parking lot of the public works place.

Kendall killed the engine, both BTR members stepping out of the car as they circled to the trunk where Richard still lay inside of. James and Kendall eyed each other before they both gave a short nod, seriousness now kicking into overdrive as they thought about the man inside the trunk. Kendall put the key into the trunk, opening to reveal Richard with his hands tied behind his back with some rope, his feet tied too with a strip of duct tape over his mouth; a pair of headphones taped in his ears to add disorientation to the man's system to ensue that he didn't pay attention to what was going on outside of the trunk.

James and Kendall each wrapped one of their hands under Richard's arms, yanking him out of the car and making him stand on his feet. Kendall jerked his head to a part of the public works place that had a bunch of cars and trucks parked inside; silently saying to James he wanted to take him there. James nodded his head in agreement, the two boys leading the bound Richard towards the drop-off zone.

James and Kendall dropped him onto his knees in the middle of the public works place, James taking the headphones out of Richard's ears and pocketing the small MP3 player and set of headphones, throwing the small strands of tape to the ground. Kendall ripped the piece of tape off of Richard's mouth, the man taking a harsh gasp of air.

"Where the hell are we?" he asked slowly, still trying to catch his breath from being in the trunk of the car for a long period of time with half of his air supply cut off from the tape. Kendall ignored him, throwing the piece of tape that was on his mouth to the ground. "Hey, come on, guys," Kendall and James started walking. "I don't know what I did to make you mad, but I'm sorry," Kendall and James sighed, doing their best to block out the protests of the man behind them. "I'm not like the other guys," Richard was fumbling around on the concrete ground in the parking lot, Kendall and James still walking and ignoring him. "You can't leave me here! If the killer finds me, he'll kill me!" Kendall almost stopped, but James shoved his back lightly to get him moving again. "Please, you gotta take me back with you!" James almost laughed. Kendall and James stopped, rather jerked to a halt when Richard spoke again.

"I won't tell anyone about you staying at Frankie's house!"

Both boys turned their heads slowly towards Richard, who proceeded to bite his lip and look down to the ground, knowing that he messed up and said something he wasn't supposed to say.

Kendall watched James start stomping back towards Richard, an angry glare plastered on his face. "Hey! How did you know where we were?!" he grew furious, his hands balling into fists at his sides. "How the hell did you know where we were!?"

"T-There was a walkie-talkie in my car and David had an earpiece in his ear. I heard everything that happened between you guys," Richard explained. "When I woke up somewhere else, I put the pieces together." He stuttered, James' dark appearance scaring the shit out of him. He started shaking his head wildly, "There's no way I would tell the killer where you guys are. I don't even like him. I'm only working for him bec-"

"Shut up!" James barked, furiously running a hand down his face, Kendall walking up and taking a position next to him, his eyes widened at the revelation. Richard knew where they were; where they were staying. This is bad. This is really bad. James turned to Kendall, "He knows that we're at Frankie's, where we're at he knows, Kendall." James started speaking, the sudden revelation bringing back the angry James Kendall had thought he had receded into James' mind with the talk they had. James eyed Kendall, his hazel eyes as dark as they were before. "Say if he finds his way back to the killer…"

Kendall knew that the possibility was there. Now that they knew Richard knew where they were, they had to figure out what to do. If they followed through with the original idea and just left Richard here, then he can find his boss and tell him where they were and what they were doing. Logan and his family would suffer for their choices and Kendall couldn't have that. Maybe if it was just Kendall on his own against this serial killer, he wouldn't care if he knew where he was. In fact, Kendall would want him to come after him so he can freakin' kill him. But, since it was him and his friends and family against this guy, he didn't want them in anymore danger than they were.

He saw James bite his lip, his eyes glaring holes in the ground behind them. Kendall and James were side-by-side, only Kendall was facing Richard's direction while James stared behind him. Kendall can only see the side of James' head and only the corner of his eye, so he barely saw the next action coming and was only able to stop it when James turned his body.

James pulled his gun from his backside, doing a quick turn and aiming it at Richard.

"James, no!" Kendall tackled James, the bald boy still managing to pull the trigger; but the bullet hit the spot right next to Richard, making the bound boy jerk over to the side in shock over just narrowly avoiding death. James rolled on the ground and stopped on the door of an abandoned car. "Not now! Just not now!" Kendall growled, appalled and angered at James' lack of hesitation to attempting to kill Richard.

Kendall put his heel over James' gun, stopping the shaved head boy from trying to get it. James seethed with anger at Kendall tackling him, eyeing him like if he just committed a horrible crime against him. "When then, Kendall? When?"

Kendall kicked the gun under another car, his eyes transfixed on the boy below him. James sat on the ground by the car still, his eyes hardening and narrowing more and more with every second Kendall kept eye-contact. He wanted to look away just so he didn't have to stare into the hateful orbs of his best friend. It was like all of his work from before died and disappeared after Richard started talking.

"When I have a chance to think about it," he answered, watching James turn his hardened look into one of disbelief, obviously appalled at Kendall's response. Kendall knew that it was time to think of a new plan. That much was certain. He just needed time to think of one that didn't involve murdering the kid. It wasn't necessary… no matter how much his mind now was telling him that he tried and that there was no other choice.

"Don't kill me," Kendall heard Richard whine. "Please, don't."

"Shut up!" James yelled, eyeing the kid with even more hate than he was looking at Kendall with. James was staring at him like if Richard had murdered his family or something. James eyed him like if he was The Painter Killer himself, which Kendall wouldn't put past his mindset to think at this point. Kendall was starting to slowly see now how messed up James was. One talk couldn't have fixed all of his problems and Kendall was feeling stupid that he thought that it could be done. Only a little progress was made and now it seemed like even that was gone.

Kendall lowered his head, his mind racing with a million thoughts about what to do with Richard. James' yelling and Richard's whining wasn't helping him to think, it was only distracting him. He couldn't do this here. He had to do this somewhere quiet where he could relax and thoroughly think about what to do. The only thing that came to mind now was to kill him to save his family and friends, but Kendall didn't want to do that. If it could be avoided, he would find the other option that didn't involve killing anyone.

"We're going back," Kendall answered, watching James growl and grow frustrated like a small part of him knew he would react.

"You're gonna bring this piece of garbage… This piece of garbage, who's- his boss is the most wanted serial killer in the country! He ran with men who tried to kill us!" James ranted and fumed, angry over Kendall's horrible decision making… again. "You're gonna bring him back to where our friends sleep?! To where _**babies **_sleep?!" he challenged, possibly hoping that Kendall would see facts and make the 'right' call this time. Kendall didn't forget about Nate or Katelyn. They were a large factor in his choice. He didn't want those kids to go through anymore pain and he was slowly starting to see with James' yelling, that maybe, just maybe, they didn't have a choice and they had to kill Richard.

But he wouldn't quit yet.

Kendall Knight never quit when his mind was set on something.

And right now… he wanted to win this argument with James.

"He'll be locked in the basement," Kendall glared, bending down to level his face with James'. "Unless you want to bust in and kill him." Kendall reminded him how he had stormed into Brad's home and killed him. James said he did it for him, but with his clear bloodlust against Richard, Kendall was starting to think James did it for himself.

"Don't start that shit with me." James warned, gritting his teeth and snarling at Kendall. Kendall ignored James' anger. He had enough of it now. This wasn't his guilt over Otis acting up like all the other times. It was James just being angry and full of bloodlust. James wanted to see Richard dead. Consequences be damned.

"I'm taking the night." Kendall needed more time for this. He needed more time to think of another possibility if possible.

"Yeah take a night on it, Kendall. Keep struggling with it," Kendall turned his head back to James, seeing him even angrier and staring at Kendall like if he lost an intelligence match against a pre-schooler. "It ain't hard, man; the right choices right now are the ones that keep us and our family alive and gets us closer to finding them!" he slammed his palms together. Kendall eyed James like if he was losing his mind, which he was starting to think he was. "This is the fifth freakin' time already. Whenever you're faced with a decision, you take the pussy way out!" James stood up from the ground, eyeing Kendall with hatred the whole way up.

Kendall angrily glared at James, his anger starting to reach the pinnacle; not seeing that he and James were heading down the path Frankie warned him about. Kendall was too blinded by James' angered enhanced rants towards him to notice. He just knew that he needed to put this out before something boiled over.

"Stop acting like if you're king or something; like if you know exactly what we have to do." Kendall got closer to James' face, "If you did know everything, then we wouldn't need Frankie's help."

"Going to him is why we're in this mess in the first place," James growled.

"Don't you blame him for this! We're lucky to have his help. We know the rest of the challenges now and how to prepare for them. We couldn't have gone that from you." Kendall smirked, knowing that he made a valid point that James couldn't argue with. With Frankie's knowledge, they knew what to do and how to prepare for the challenges ahead. Plus, he was providing hospitality for them when they needed it. Kendall saw him as a good ally for that.

"Nah, man; we couldn't." James glared, his eyes starting to shut in from how hard he was glaring at Kendall. Kendall didn't think this much hatred was possible, especially from someone as nice as James. He definitely wasn't being nice now. "But at least I got the balls to do what needs to be done."

"Just last week, you didn't have the balls to jump with Carlos out the apartment window into the pool. Don't go around acting like you suddenly grew these thousand pound balls of steel."

"Why don't you shut up, Kendall?!"

"Because I have a mouth and I'm using it to tell you to calm the fuck down!"

"You're a pathetic leader,"

"This is _**my **_decision to make. Like you just said, I _**am **_the leader. And this is my call."

"It's your fault Logan and your family was kidnapped!"

Kendall stopped, his mouth hung open shockingly at what James just said. Kendall couldn't believe James just blamed him for the kidnappings. James went way too far this time. Kendall didn't see James grow regretful or guilty over what he just said. All Kendall thought of right now was how angry he felt at James. The public works place, Richard, and the scenery faded out around him. All he saw was James staring at him with that angered expression that he now hated as much as The Painter Killer himself.

Kendall swung his fist towards James, the bald boy seeing it coming and trapping it under his arm; headbutting Kendall in retaliation for swinging his fist at him. James bent Kendall sideways, his hand fumbling with the front of Kendall's pants to reach for the gun in his waistband. Kendall elbowed him with his trapped arm, the gun falling off to the side as Kendall pinned James to the car; hitting him three times rapidly in the face before slamming his back into the car door.

Kendall spun James around, pushing him towards a truck and slamming him into the front hood; pressing his face into the hood as hard as he could, rage fueling his actions. Kendall didn't want to do anything other than beat James for saying something like he just did. How dare he blame him for the kidnappings! If Kendall would've known this was gonna happen, he would've stopped it and they wouldn't be in this mess in the first place. Logan, his mom, and sister would be home; Carlos wouldn't be crying over his guilt; James wouldn't have become this asshole; and as for Kendall…

He wouldn't be beating the shit out of James.

He punched James three times into the gut before kneeing him in the same place, not giving James the chance to strike back. James was the strongest of the four BTR boys and Kendall knew taking a hit from him would hurt. His head was spinning from the one headbutt he gave him and knew that he was only still standing from the rage and betrayal that coursed his veins. James betrayed him by blaming everything on him and for calling him a horrible leader when he had told him many times over their childhood and adventures in L.A. that he was a great leader. He went back on his word and betrayed him and Kendall wanted to get back at him for it. It wasn't even about Richard or The Painter Killer anymore. It was tension and anger between Kendall and James now. Nothing else was fueling this fight other than the emotions that had boiled over between the best friends.

James pushed Kendall's back into one of the other trucks, pinning him there. Kendall swung his arm in a powerful hook, making James' head turn forcefully from the power of the hit. James elbowed Kendall's cheek, the blonde boy now starting to grow dizzy from the two hard hits to the head; providing James with the distraction he needed to grab Kendall's collar and throw him to the ground, the blonde rolling three times before landing by a motorcycle; his head swelling and his vision growing fuzzy. This was why Kendall didn't want to take a hit from James. He knew he would be feeling like this.

James stumbled over to the motorcycle, grabbing the handle bars in a fierce grip. Kendall watched James' knuckles whitened from the hard grip he had on them and without warning or hesitation, threw it on him, his leg aching from the sudden weight.

Kendall screamed in pain, pushing his hands on the seat of the bike to provide leverage to push himself out. His leg was fine. It hurt like hell of course, but it didn't appear to be broken or sprained from the force of the motorcycle. Kendall pulled his leg out, noticing that James' gun wasn't in the spot where he had kicked it with his vans a few moments ago. Kendall stood up, despite the protest from his leg, searched around for James.

He found him pointing his gun at a struggling Richard, who was trying to get free from his bindings.

Kendall ran, despite the aching in his leg, and grabbed James by the shoulders, stopping him from pulling the trigger on the man in front of them; pulling him to the ground. Kendall mostly didn't want James to kill Richard now because he didn't want him to have the satisfaction of ending the man's life and fueling his bloodlust. If he killed Richard, where did it stop? If James kept killing people, his lust wouldn't end. He might end up killing innocent people… or maybe Carlos or him when he got angry. Kendall needed to stop him.

"Get off me, man!" James fumed, trying to wrestle the gun from Kendall's grip. Kendall didn't know how he was managing to keep such a hold on something that James was trying to pull away from him. Kendall knew it had to be a mix of adrenaline, rage, and determination. What ever it was, Kendall needed it to keep fueling his veins and actions for a few more minutes. He needed this extra strength to have a chance against James.

Kendall managed to get the gun from James, throwing it to the side; James reaching up to grab his face. Kendall pushed his hand away, trying to grab a good hold on James' collar, the bald boy shrugging him off roughly. When James put his hand up again to grab him, Kendall forced it to the side, ramming his knuckles three times quickly in James' face; a large bruise starting to form on the right side of his face. Kendall knew James was gonna berate him for damaging his looks, but right now, with the rage he felt towards his friend, James can kiss his ass for all he cared.

James grabbed his head as he started standing up, spitting out some blood onto the concrete below him. Kendall was panting heavily as he let his arms dangle weakly at his sides, all his strength and extra adrenaline gone from his system; feeling as weak as a MMA fighter after six rounds of non-stop fighting. If James found the energy to keep fighting, Kendall knew he was screwed and Richard was dead. All of this shit over James wanting to kill a man that Kendall was starting to consider had to die too, but James didn't give him the chance to talk or think thoroughly about it. He just jumped right on the murder wagon and started this fight. Kendall might've thrown the first punch, but James instigated it by going too far.

"You're not doing this!" Kendall shouted, watching James' shaky movements. Kendall stumbled back towards the abandoned building, standing in front of the window with blood running down his face and his hands. "You don't get to make these calls." Kendall panted three times before he narrowed his eyes at his friend, who didn't look at him; only glancing at the area around them. "I won't let you."

Kendall watched James wobble over to a large wrench, wrapping his tan hands around the large tool. Kendall grew a little scared and felt anxiety make its way up his chest as he saw James start turning his head slowly. James' eyes were hardened more than a rock beaten into a brick wall by a hammer held by a bodybuilder. Kendall stumbled back slightly as James walked forward with the wrench held in his hands, his hands tightening around it.

"James?" Kendall let the fear take over as he watched his best friend start speeding up.

"Rahhhhh!" James yelled as he threw the wrench over to Kendall, the large tool spinning incredibly fast. Kendall barely threw himself back in time as the wrench smashed into the window he was standing in front of. Kendall covered his face from the pieces of glass that fell down from the shattered window. Kendall watched James' eyes as he panted from the energy used to throw the wrench.

James' eyes were cold and empty. Absolutely nothing was there.

Kendall felt like he was staring at a monster.

James' eyes slowly widened as he looked back and forth between Kendall and the shattered mirror, like if he only just registered what he just did. Kendall watched him look down to his hands, not caring about what James might be thinking of right now. Only one thought crossed Kendall's mind:

Frankie was right. James did want to kill him.

"Kendall," James sounded appalled. Almost hurt and ashamed, which made Kendall mad. He had no freakin' right to feel that way. He tried to kill him. James Diamond, his best friend, his brother, tried to kill him. "I'm so sorry. I don't know what came over me." He placed his hands on his head, pulling at his scalp to try and understand his actions he just committed.

Kendall stood up from the ground, his own eyes dark and hardened towards James. Everything in him screamed to climb in the broken window and grab the wrench and throw it back to him, but he didn't. He wouldn't do it or else he would be just like James. He refused to turn so far to the dark side that he attempt to kill his own friends, his own family. He would find another way to handle his hatred. And the man that watched their fight was the perfect outlet. Kendall's old thoughts were gone, replaced with ones that mirrored James and he didn't even see it. All he saw was red and betrayal with a small dose of hurt.

"I don't want to hear it," Kendall snapped, walking past James to grab both of the guns that lay forgotten on the ground. If he gave James back his, he might shoot him with it. Kendall wanted to shoot him now. Kendall stumbled to Richard, his anger clouding him as he stomped on his head; knocking the poor man out cold. Kendall didn't care if he had no energy; he lifted Richard on his own and placed him in the back of the trunk like he originally was and slammed the trunk shut hard. The only difference was that he was without the tape and headphones. Kendall didn't really care anymore. His new plan for this man would come after he sat down alone and thought it out.

He entered the driver's seat, turning his head to notice that James hadn't moved from his spot. He was staring at the shattered window. Kendall scoffed. He would love to leave James here right now, but he refrained from starting the car. James was still a crucial part in finding the killer, so leaving him behind was stupid for the purpose of doing the challenges. Kendall liked to believe that that was the only reason why he was taking him back. He didn't want to let his love and friendship for him take hold right now. He pushed those thoughts away and let the murderous thoughts and anger come out in their place.

"Get in the fuckin' car." Kendall commanded, watching James break free from his trance as he slowly walked to the car and entered the back away from Kendall behind the passenger seat. Smart move on his part.

"Kendall… I'm-"

"Shut up." Kendall cut him off, starting the car and driving back to Frankie's house. The ride was long, quiet, and tenser than ever. So much had come between them now, leaving Kendall feeling like if there was no hope for James anymore, or for him for that matter. He just curb-stomped a man out of rage and was about to leave his friend behind, having thoughts about killing him along with it. James stayed quiet, looking down at his feet the entire ride back. Nothing got accomplished here. Only more problems came from this.

Kendall and James didn't know it, but the moment that the window shattered… So did their friendship.

And there was hardly any chance of saving it and putting it back together.

End of Chapter 16 of Heavy Blood

Wow… just wow… I can write a series of Oneshots just based off this chapter. I might write one that shows James' POV through all of this since it mostly stuck to just Kendall's.

James did try to kill Kendall. Kinda harsh.

I loved writing that tension between them and am hoping I wrote the build-up to the climatic moment of James throwing the wrench well. Tell me I if I did, please?

I originally had this titled 'Switch' for the reason being that Kendall and James just switched mindsets. You'll understand later on.

We'll finally see Logan again next time, which shows him recovering and making a new friend… kinda.

This is my favorite chapter by far. How about you guys? The only chapter that might beat this is the one after the next one, which I call 'Carlos: The Moral Compass'. You'll love that one too. It's Carlos-centric all the way.

Next Time: Pouring Salt


	17. Pouring Salt

Disclaimer: Don't own Big Time Rush

AN: **What's up boys and girls? Hope ya'll enjoyed the last chapter of James' attempted murder on Kendall. I know you guys did since it's the most reviewed chapter of the story. Everyone was shocked at what James had done, or rather almost had done, to Kendall. If it'll make you feel slightly better, I posted a oneshot that shows James' POV of the last chapter and it shows why he did what he did. He'll get better now, I can promise you that; but the Kames tension will not go away, it might increase from here on out.**

**Time to check on in on Logan and the girls and see how they're holding up. Logan will have the limelight soon enough when we get to a certain point in the story. He's gonna be playing hero and I know you all will like that a lot. James and Kendall have been taking the spotlight and as much as I love writing the tension between those two, its time to spread it out to Carlos and Logan now, and even Frankie in two or three chapters.**

**Enjoy**

Chapter 17- Pouring Salt

Logan stirred as his eyes slowly opened, trying to take in the sights around him. He could hardly see anything other than a bright light that forced him to close his eyes back up. He felt a thundering pain in his head as he tried to move it, noting that what ever it was that his head was resting on was soft. His chest hurt like hell, trying to move his arms to rub away some of the pain; but his arms too were in a lot of pain. Logan tried to remember what happened to him that caused him to feel broken. The last few things he can remember were him mercy-killing the pregnant woman, crying about it afterwards, having Katie and Mama Knight brought to his holding cell, and James' murder of a stranger.

Remembering the horrid action of James caused Logan to forget his pain for a moment to think about why James had done what he did. Logan didn't know the story behind why James was out somewhere that none of them ever came across before, but he tried to reason with himself that James had a very good reason for doing what he did. Logan faintly remembered that the Painter Killer had told him that Kendall, Carlos, and James were doing challenges and that James had been impressing him the whole way through. Was James' act of murder one of the challenges that the sick bastard assigned them? It had to be, Logan noted. There's no other reason why James would have done what he did. James wasn't like that in the slightest. James was a good man despite his self-centered faults. James was almost as nice as Carlos was. Logan couldn't think or comprehend how James must be feeling after what he did.

Logan could see the outline of a person that was standing in the light, the brightness making it hard for Logan to see anything other than the silhouette of a woman holding an ice-pack. Immediately, Logan went on alert; remembering now why he was in such pain. He had completed his second challenge and taken a beating from the right hand man of the killer, Pete. Logan was assuming that Pete was the right hand man since he saw him a lot more than he had the actual serial killer that had taken him and Kendall's family. Either way, Logan didn't think anything good was gonna come out of this. Every time he was somewhere new in this place, he had been hurt either physically or emotionally. His guard was up more than it had been the whole time he's been here, ready to do his best to defend himself despite the pain he was feeling just about everywhere.

He didn't calm down when the woman placed the ice-pack on his head, which swelled down the pain he was feeling there. Now that his head wasn't pounding like a drum, he can think more clearly about what was going on. He could think more about Kendall, James, and Carlos and where Katie and Mama Knight were. Sure they were last seen in his room here, but he was sure that the scumbag Pete moved them away somewhere just to screw with him. Logan just noticed that Pete had done more to make him hate him than the Painter Killer had. Logan still despised the killer, of course, but Pete was just a little bit higher on his shit list than the killer was. Logan didn't doubt for a second that pretty soon, the killer would climb up that small step to the top of his shit list. Unless Pete had hurt Mama Knight or Katie, then Logan would go right back to hating him more. Logan needed to get out of wherever he was now and get back to them. He needed to protect them until Kendall and the rest made it here or until Logan managed to complete all five challenges and get them out. Logan wasn't holding his breath on the last one. By the way things had been going for him, the killer would probably kill him if he completed all five challenges to protect his hideout.

Feeling the ice-pack slip down to his bruised ribs, Logan let his mind race to Kendall and the rest. He was curious as to how their challenges were going for them. If it was anything like his, they were probably all bruised up and in a lot of pain. All Logan knew for sure on their end was that Kendall crawled on glass and that James had killed a man. Other than that, Logan didn't have a clue in the slightest on what was going on for them. Since there were three of them, Logan was thinking about how many challenges they would have to do. If he by himself has to do five, and since there were three boys left, and assuming that they get the same number of challenges as him, that meant they had to do fifteen. That was ten more than he had to do. Logan inwardly cringed for his friends. They were gonna go through a lot more pain then he had to go through. Now Logan made up his mind about him having to finish first. If he didn't, then something bad can happen to Kendall, James, and Carlos. He needed to be first. He just had to be.

He felt a pair of hands help him to sit up, groans escaping his lips as he sat up straight on the bed that he was resting on. He turned his head to his right to see a woman getting an Advil and a cup of water. Logan took in her sight, trying to see if there was anything dangerous that he can pick up from just watching her moves. The woman appeared to be in her late 30's by Logan's estimate. She had long wavy brunette hair that reached to her mid-back, wearing a white shirt with blue pants. Despite her casual appearance, Logan was still on guard and ready to either run or grab something and hit her with it. Logan didn't trust any of these people as far as he could throw them. The woman must've felt his gaze on him and turned her head to look at him, a small smile forming on her face; which made a suspicious frown form on Logan's.

"Hey, you're awake," she noted the obvious. She held the Advil and water to him. "Here, take this. It'll help with the pain." Logan made no move to take it. For all he knew, there could be poison or something else in there. He kept his frown in place as he slowly shook his head, which sent waves of pain through his head. He wasn't gonna cave and let the workers of this serial killer win. He would deal with the pain like a man. He would deal with it like Kendall would've if he was here instead of Logan.

The woman saw his hesitation and reluctance to take what she was offering him. She sighed, knowing and understanding where his doubt was coming from. "I promise, there's nothing in here that's gonna hurt or maim you." Logan still looked reluctant to take it, not getting anything in the last minute that showed him that she wasn't a threat or that she was telling the truth. The woman sighed once again, keeping the medicine and liquid in reach for Logan to take. "Take it. You're pain is just gonna get worse if you don't." Logan saw that she spoke like a professional nurse. He slowly, ever so slowly, moved his hands to take the cup and small pill from her outstretched hands. She gave him a smile. "Good."

Logan put the pill in his mouth, hiding it under his tongue as he drank some of the water. He wasn't swallowing this pill until he knew for sure that there wasn't anything tainted with it. Better to be safe than sorry in his book. He watched again as the woman sighed deeply, her hands on her hips as she took a slow glance around the room, probably thinking about what was beyond the walls of the small room that they were in. Logan took a small little surveillance around the room to get a positive idea of where he was and what he was up against.

The room reminded him a bunch of a school nurse room. Supplies were scattered on the counter off to his right hand side where the woman was standing. Three more beds were located to the left of his, neatly kept together from what Logan could see. There were powerful lights above him coming from the light-bulb that was blinding him. Curtains covered some part of the room towards the back where there was a cabinet and a drawer, possibly filled with more medical supplies or whatnot. The room didn't look too bad and at least Logan wasn't anywhere near Pete or the killer. The woman in front of him didn't seem as dangerous, but Logan wasn't gonna judge a book by its cover. It was always the nice ones that were dangerous and hostile when it came be.

The woman looked at him with worried and sympathetic eyes, Logan's brain telling him to not take it to heart or believe it when he had no proof that this woman was good or not as crazy as the killer. "You're Logan Mitchell, right?" At the mention of his name, Logan gave the woman a nod, not sure what else to do. He really didn't care if she knew his name or not. It wouldn't help him to escape any sooner than he had planned. "That means you're the next targets for the sick bastard that holds us all hostage."

Logan raised an eyebrow. She was a hostage too? Maybe it was true or maybe it was not, Logan couldn't tell. A part of him was telling himself to not be ridiculously over-paranoid while the other part, the more rational and logical part of his being, told him to not say or do anything until he knew for sure what he was up against. All he had on his mind was getting to Katie and Mama Knight. Nothing else mattered to him. He would do anything to get back to them in one piece. If that meant fighting his way through the building unarmed, show him the starting point.

"My son and I were kidnapped before the last family," she explained to him, probably hoping her story would get him to believe her and not see her as a threat like he did the killer and his right hand man. "When my husband and other son failed, he was about to kill us. My son, Richard, told the sicko that he'll do anything to keep us alive. My son works for this bastard to keep us alive and I work as the medic so he doesn't have to do 'things' to me." She shuddered at the thought of what those things were. Logan could figure it out too. He didn't know why she was telling him her business. He felt bad because by her tone of voice and lack of deviousness or mistrust in her eyes she was telling the truth. Having to work for this guy just to stay alive. It didn't sound like a life Logan would want to live, if you can call this a life. Might as well be dead in his opinion.

He let the pill slide down his throat, feeling as though he had nothing to worry about now coming from her. "I'm so sorry to hear that," he answered, giving her an apologetic look to show that he really was sorry for her predicament. She nodded her head, giving silent thanks to his sympathy and apologies. "It must be hard to handle him every day." Logan had known this killer for one day and he already couldn't stomach him. To handle him beyond the usual time period in which he kidnaps people must not be the best way to live your life.

She nodded, "He's a sick man. I don't know why he does the things he does, but I know that it can't be for anything good. I want him dead and I'll be happy to be the one to do it. But," she sighed. "He never gives you a chance to do anything other than roam around the house after formal greetings."

"Formal greetings?" Logan asked, confusion lacing his usually smart features. He didn't know what this woman meant, but by the way she was speaking and moving around in a small circle; it couldn't be for anything good.

"Yeah. You go, he introduces himself, kinda, and then he tells you you can roam around and do anything you want. The only rules that he has is that you can't go by any of the exits, obviously, and that if you want to do a challenge to get closer to leaving, you have to take it up with his sick friend Pete." Logan groaned, not looking forward to having to talk to Pete anymore than he already has. His attitude sickened Logan to the point of wanting to throw up. Plus, he wasn't the most gentle guy when it came to others. Logan could feel the bruises on his arms start to ache from the beating Pete had given him. He hadn't even seen how he looked like yet after the beat-down he got.

Logan rubbed at the skin of his forearms, feeling some of the pain going away from the pill that he swallowed. At least he wasn't in anymore pain after what he experienced. He probably wouldn't have been able to take it after. He slowly started to stand up from the bed, feeling the added weight to his legs start to make him lower his body to the ground. Guess he wasn't as healed as he hoped to be. Any way, he needed to leave and go back to find Katie and Mama Knight and see what this formal greeting was.

"Thank you for helping me," Logan thanked, giving the woman a smile. "Any chance I can have your name?"

"I'm Gracie," she smiled.

"Logan. Sorry we have to meet under these circumstances." He apologized, laughing sheepishly as he ran a hand through his hair. Both Logan and Gracie jumped when they heard the door start to open, Pete and Kendall's mom and sister walking in. Katie and Jennifer took one glance at Logan and started running to him, throwing both pairs of arms around his neck and stomach respectively.

"Oh my God, you're okay." Jennifer wept into the crooks of his neck. After Pete had dragged Logan away and came back, she had demanded to know where he was and what the hell was going on with everything. Pete had discreetly explained that her son and the other boys were doing challenges sent to them to get them back while Logan had the chance to set them all free by doing his, which is where the beating came from. Jennifer was sickened. Forcing the boys to do heinous acts just so they can all get away alive and as unharmed as they were allowed. Katie had voiced how he thought it was stupid and that she'll just kill both Pete and the killer first chance she gets. Jennifer didn't think she was lying and that scared her to know her son was out there injuring himself and that her daughter was bloodthirsty. James' murder they witnessed wasn't doing well to help her nerves. Logan had been knocked out for sixteen hours before Pete allowed them to go and see him.

Logan nodded, "Yeah. I'm fine now." He assured them, although he wasn't sure how long he was gonna be okay. He still had three more challenges to go and he knew it wasn't gonna be any easier than the last two. They might get harder and he was positive they would. There was no reason they would get any easier, he thought logically. "We're gonna be okay, I promise." He eyed Pete menacingly, who merely smirked and waved at him like an idiot. "I'm ready for the formal greeting." He smirked at how Pete seemed surprised that he knew, but when he eyed Gracie, he seemed to know how Logan knew.

Pete smirked again, the stupid tilted lips looking like they belonged up there with his evil looking face. "The boss had something to do. He'll be back soon though." Logan and the girls looked panicked, possibly thinking that it had to do with the guys. Pete shook his head, almost as if he read their mind. "Nah, something else." He pointed to Gracie. "Her son and his buddies are taking too long to come back from spying on them, so he went to check on them. But, if you wanna know something funny," Pete chuckled. "He did shoot someone on the way back."

"What?!" Logan, Katie, and Jennifer yelled, shocked and bewildered at the reveal. Someone was shot? Who was hurt? It had to be one of the boys or else Pete wouldn't be telling them this. The only question was who.

"Shocking, huh? He told me this about an hour ago so he'll be back pretty soon. We can wait in the dining room until then."

Katie glared, "Can I ask you something?" Pete looked amused at her glare, so he nodded. "Can you jump out a window so you save me the trouble of killing you?" Jennifer gasped at her daughter's choice of words while Logan looked surprised. He's never seen Katie so angry before. Her glare made him want to shiver and hide behind Pete, no matter how much Logan hated him and wanted him and his boss dead.

Pete laughed, "I like you, kid."

"I don't."

"Shall we get going?" Pete ignored her, leading Logan and the girls to where the dining room was, pouring salt on their open wounds with the information he gave them. He smirked, knowing that they didn't have to worry over who it was that got shot.

The boss cleaned up all loose ends of the last family.

End of Chapter 17 of Heavy Blood

Like I said, Logan will get the limelight soon. This was to show that he's fine and the girls are as well.

Katie's line was funny. She's gonna be getting a big role too when we see them again, which will be in four to five chapters depending.

We learn Richard is working for the killer to keep him and his mom alive. Gotta respect the guy for that.

Who got shot? I think it' obvious with that final line.

We end the Richard side arc next time, so prepare for a shocking ending.

Next Time: Judge, Jury, Executioner


	18. Judge, Jury, Executioner

Disclaimer: Don't own Big Time Rush

AN: **Back for another chapter of Heavy Blood. We close the book on the Richard arc and see how Kendall has changed since James threw the wrench at him and attempted to kill him and how James changed because of it. Lots of Carlos angst in this chapter along with some Frankie angst. The drama train has just entered the station and is gonna take us on a nice long ride to horror. **

**I'm happy to say that I have a lot more planned for this story, even afterwards when everything is said and done with these challenges. I'm not gonna spoil if they do them all or not, but it will be a long journey once the book has closed for this first part. I promise you'll all love it.**

**We'll be seeing more of Frankie's past soon, so that'll be fun to see; maybe even how he killed his friend.**

**We also find out who the killer shot in this chapter.**

**Enjoy**

Chapter 18- Judge, Jury, Executioner

A fist swung, the knuckles connecting with the jaw of the person tied to the pillar. Pants echoed as more sounds of flesh connecting with jaw echoed in the secluded area of a basement. Even with toys scattered across the floor, it didn't do much to lower the intensity and tension that was felt by both men in the basement. The man doing the beating ran a hand down his face, blood staining the pale skin of the angry man. The man beneath him tied to the pillar had trails of blood flowing down his mouth and face, his right eye swollen and his face in a bundled mess of broken bone and blood.

The man threw another fist, his teeth snarled and growls escaping his mouth. He came down here because he felt that he was the best capable to do what the group decided to do. They needed to know where the killer was hiding out and after Kendall and James had come back with Richard and revealed that he knew where they were hiding out, he took it upon himself to go and be the one to find out what he knew. He was angry when Kendall told him. He was five levels pass angry when Kendall told him what Richard knew. He resisted the urge to dig his hands behind his pocket and pull out his gun and kill the man tied to the pillar. He settled for another punch instead.

He had to stop when he heard the man gurgling on his blood and spit. If he continued, he was gonna beat the man to death before he got anything. He could see the fear on the man's one non-swollen eye as he stared up at him. His white T-shirt and blue pajama pants didn't seem to be dwindling the intimidation that radiated off of him. He didn't care. He was happy that this guy was afraid of him. He enjoyed having people being scared of him. It meant no bullshit would be given to him due to the fear that people would feel around him. That's what he told himself to make himself feel better. As long as his daughter and brother weren't scared of him, he didn't care what anyone else thought about him.

Frankie would die if his babies told him they were scared of him or hated him. He would no longer have a reason to live without them.

"I told you," Richard gurgled out, blood and spit escaping the mess that was his broken jaw. He was frightened immensely by the man above him, but he could understand where his protection and his anger came from. The lives of his kids were in danger and he would do anything to protect them. Richard could understand why he was like that, he was just like him in that sense. He had done a bunch of horrible shit in the last month and a half for the killer to keep his mom safe and alive. She was all he had left and he would do anything to protect her. That was why no matter how much he wanted to run and get away from the man above him, he wouldn't; not that he could with being tied to the pillar and all. He knew that he was just being a loving father and family member. No matter how angry he wanted to be and no matter how much he wanted to hate him, he couldn't. He just wished he and his friends would believe him when he said that he didn't know where the killer was. Like he told them, he was always given a blindfold in case if he went to the cops and brought them there.

Frankie grabbed the helms of his shirt, slamming his back hard into the pillar he was tied to. "You told me shit!" he growled, his patience with the man beneath him dwindling at a very fast rate. Frankie just wanted this shit over with so the guys can get back to the challenges and get him one step closer to his revenge and redemption. Frankie wanted to redeem himself for his failures to his family. He couldn't keep his girlfriend alive, he killed his best friend, and he wasn't able to save his parents and sister. He had so much to atone for and he needed the guys to succeed to allow him to get that. But the one reason that took lead over all the other ones was the one that made the most sense.

He didn't want his kids to live their lives looking over their shoulder. Frankie wanted them to be safe from this serial killer. He didn't care if he had to live his life in fear, but he would be damned if his kids lived their lives like that.

"Where is he?!" Frankie yelled in Richard's face, waiting for the beaten man beneath him to cave and tell him where the monster was hiding out. He had enough of playing dodge-ball and wanted to know the truth now. If he could figure out where the killer was, they could pull a surprise attack and kill him and his minions in the confusion. Kendall and them would get their family back and they would never have to talk again. He could focus on getting his kids as normal a life as he could give them. They deserved it.

When Richard was about to tell him the same bullshit again, Frankie slapped his face before he stood away, his eye hardened down at him as he thought about what to do. He turned his head away, facing a box that rested on a shelf by the stairs that led to his living room. Many bad memories surfaced as he thought about the contents of the box, shaking his head profoundly to get rid of them. He walked over to it, a harsh idea taking hold as he opened the box, grabbing the first thing that was at the top of the box.

A knife that had dried blood on it.

Frankie walked back towards Richard, dangling the knife mockingly at him, a stew of emotions cooking on Richard's face that ranged from fear to slight anger. Frankie slammed the knife on the ground by his foot, causing him to jump at his spot on the floor. Frankie ignored the satisfaction that he felt at seeing Richard squirm. If he couldn't take out all the anger he felt towards The Painter Killer out on the man himself, one of his workers will work just fine, no matter how much that made him sound harsh. He was angry and anger clouds people's judgement and reasoning for their actions.

"Where. Is. He?" Frankie growled out slowly, running the point of the knife across Richard's calf, pressing it tight against his skin. Drops of blood started leaking out when he did. "Tell me or you can say goodbye to your foot," he brought the knife to his hand that was bound behind his back. "Or you can say goodbye to your hand like my deceased girlfriend," he glared at Richard to silently tell him why she had died. Richard fearfully got the message, if the way he was shaking was any indication. Frankie smirked, another idea crossing his head. "Or..." he waved the knife dangerously close to Richard's eye. "You can lose your eye like I did."

Richard shook his head wildly, obviously not wanting to lose his eye or any part of his body. He couldn't tell him anything because there was nothing to tell. If he knew, he would've told them back at The Palm Woods and avoided all this trouble that was avoidable. "Please, man, I'm trying to cooperate here." He pleaded, trying to get the man above him to calm it down with the threats and anger and to make him listen to him. He was obviously in a revenge-induced state and wasn't gonna listen to anything unless it was what he wanted to hear.

Frankie pressed the knife back to his ankle, pressing tighter than he did before, causing Richard to squirm in his spot on the floor, biting his lip to stop from crying. "You know how much it hurts to go through an amputation?" he asked, digging the knife into the man's ankle, getting more squirms and whimpers from the man he was, for the lack of a better word, torturing. "Your nerves start burning, your muscles start tingling, you lose so much blood that you become a human faucet and you can die." He remembered how Elena had bled out and died from chopping her hand off, the sight of the mother of his child yelling and screaming as she bled out at the abandoned warehouse and her dying in the hospital clouding his vision. He wouldn't cry though. Not in front of the enemy. "You want me to go fast?" He tightened the hold that he had on the knife that was one push away from completely getting inserted into Richard's foot. "Or slow?"

"Okay!" Richard yelled, now letting his fear take him over fully. He needed to tell him something before he followed through on the threat and cut his foot off. He could tell him something that showed him that he was on their side and that he hated the killer as much as he did. "Okay," he whispered, Frankie taking the knife out and keeping it in his hand in case he wanted to or felt like using it again. Richard needed to make sure that he didn't give him a reason to do it. "I'll tell you something." He watched Frankie nod, waiting for him to start talking. "This guy is a sick freak. He does so much shit that's inhumane that even some of his own workers find him to be a devil." Frankie's glare told him to elaborate on what he just said. "Dozens," Richard revealed. "He has dozens of people. They range from two dozen to five dozen. I didn't have time to count them all." He knew that that wasn't what he was hoping to hear, but Richard knew that if they succeeded, they were gonna need to know roughly how many people they were gonna have to fight. Even if they succeeded, the killer wasn't gonna give his hostages away without a fight.

"Most of them, however, are just as sick as him, probably even more so," Richard started trailing off now, his own anger for the monster flowing through, leaving Frankie as a mere listener to his rants. "They do so many horrible things to the hostages. They beat them, they mutilate them, they kill them in horrible ways that make you believe that you're burning in hell for a second with all the pain." Frankie started taking slow breaths, trying to control his anger at what he was hearing. Richard didn't blame him for being angry. He had every right to. This guy hadn't been nice to his family or even Richard's. Richard had seen the process that the killer used firsthand, feeling even more disgust towards the man and even himself for being forced to do his deeds to keep his mother alive.

"I remember specifically," he started getting choked up, thinking that if he told this to Frankie, he can get on his side and show him that he was with them. They hadn't believed him when he said that he was working for the killer to keep his mother alive, thinking that he was a lying scumbag in that sense. Richard didn't entirely blame them. He didn't have any proof that his mother was with the killer other than his words and they didn't have reason to take his words to heart. To them, he was just an employer to a serial killer and was just as crazy as he was. "I remember David," Frankie scoffed at the mention of the man whose throat he slit the other day. "Telling me that one time, I think it was the first or second family, they had kids they kidnapped. They weren't any older than your daughter."

If Richard could see behind Frankie's eye or inside his head, he would shut up and leave the man in the dark over what he heard from David. Frankie slowly turned his head to look at Richard, his mind starting to race with many different scenarios over what Richard said. His love for his baby made him think stupid and horrible shit when she was brought up in a way he didn't like. And hearing her being mentioned by the man tied to the pillar beneath him that worked for the man Frankie hated more than Isaiah or even himself, it got his mind racing and his mood darkening. If anything that came out of Richard's mouth from here on out struck a nerve with Frankie, something was gonna happen to the man beneath him. Something that would end with his head on a silver platter.

"When the family failed to save them, the killer gave them a minute to say goodbye to one another. He had some of his people in the room to ensure that they didn't try to overthrow them and try to kill any of them. One thing about this guy is that he lets some live and some die. He kept the mother of the family and left the father and kids to die." Frankie felt his chest tightening, anger starting to work its way up to his body and threatening to take him over. He waited to see what Richard would say, no matter how much he didn't want to. He needed to know what happened. Every fiber of his being screamed to know what this guy and his minions did to people before he killed them, especially to kids that were close to his baby's age. "David laughed when he said that they decided to make them have one last memory before they died. They..." he gulped, Frankie's eye widening and turning to stare at Richard, his chest starting to rise and fall at a fast rate. Did they? They didn't. Frankie placed a palm over his heart, fast breaths escaping his lips as he tried to calm himself before he killed the man beneath him. He would kill him once he got what he needed from him.

"I-I think what they did was wrong," Richard started shaking wildly once he saw Frankie stop breathing right, watching the man above him start to grow uneasy. He realized he messed up. He did more harm than good for himself and probably dug his own hole for his grave with those last few sentences he just told Frankie. This was the wrong guy to tell the story. His mother always told him his running mouth was gonna get him in trouble one day. Looks like that day was today. Frankie turned his head, staring Richard down with his one eye, giving the young man a few seconds to prepare a saving grace for himself. "It was horrible what they did," Frankie towered over him, his eye and posture reminding him a bunch of his boss.

Cold and murderous.

"Please... Please you gotta believe me."

Frankie stomped on Richard's manhood, his screams echoing loudly in the small basement they were confided into. For the first time since he's been down here, Frankie was happy he was the one who had taken it upon himself to do this. He was happy he could be the one to beat the shit out of Richard and maybe even be the one to kill him. These people were monsters. Bigger monsters than Isaiah was when he was alive... Bigger monsters than him. They were monsters who assaulted little kids before they died. What kind of sick shit was that?

Katelyn entered his mind as he threw the knife and gun off to the side before he got too carried away and killed Richard before the choice was made. If it were just him, he would've just done it already, but since there were a group of them, he needed to wait and see what they agreed on before anything was decided. Frankie didn't know why he was being considerate of them when he owed them absolutely nothing. He wouldn't care how they looked at him if he either stabbed or shot Richard right now. He would shrug them all off like an annoying tick. He didn't know why he was thinking of them. He didn't care for these people. He guessed it was his complex morals coming into question again.

His little girl was all he thought about as he started wailing on Richard, his anger as a dad taking control and fueling his already angered mood. He cycled through his fists as he kept punching Richard, thoughts of the horror he just told him and his little girl shifting in his head like weather patterns. With each giggle or smile he heard or saw in his head that was on the face of his precious angel, he delivered a powerful punch to Richard's face. Richard was in such bad shape and too focused on the fear that he didn't see the tears that fell down Frankie's face as he kept punching him.

"My baby girl..." Frankie whispered, delivering a punch to Richard's face for each tear that fell.

...

Carlos stretched his arms over his head as he stepped out the bathroom on the second floor of the house, trying to get the sleep out of his system, or lack of if Carlos was being truthful. Carlos hadn't slept well the last two days after he killed Bruce, the memory and the echo of the gunshot keeping him up at night. Carlos strolled down the hallway, heading towards the stairs that led to the lower level of Frankie's two-story house. He had to admit that the one-eyed man had a nice house. Four bedrooms, two bathrooms, a backyard and a basement. Carlos thought the place was well decorated with the family pictures that he saw littered against the walls as he started descending the steps down to the living room where the rest of the gang was waiting. Waiting for Frankie to finish with his interrogation of their hostage Richard.

Kendall had come back yesterday with James in a mood, angry and moody for some reason that he didn't tell anyone. He had revealed that Richard knew where they were and that they needed to think about what to do next. Carlos had noticed the way that James looked ashamed and apologetic towards Kendall while the blonde boy seemed to ignore his existence as best he could. He hadn't even glanced at James since they've been back, only telling Frankie that he was right about something before he focused the rest of his day on deciding what to do. He had come out of one of the bedrooms this morning, having switched spots with James for the sleeping arrangements on James' requests, and said that they had to find out more information on the killer and they could figure out whether to kill him or let him join them. Carlos looked to James, thinking he was gonna reject what Kendall said and start a fight. To his surprise, James shut up and nodded his head; only rubbing on the bruises that were now on his face. Carlos didn't miss the bruises on both Kendall and James when they came back, but refrained from asking by the look of shame on James' and the look of anger on Kendall's.

Carlos knew something had happened between his friends that caused them to fight. Something bad had happened between Kendall and James.

Carlos finished descending the steps, taking a glance around the living room to see what everyone, clad in pajamas, was doing. Kendall was watching the news on Frankie's flat screen, keeping up with the daily news to see if anything new pertaining to them came up after the 2J shootout. James was sitting on the couch behind where Kendall was standing, staring sadly at Kendall's back while he tried to focus on the news in front of him. Carlos could feel the tension that was shared between them, thinking he would be able to cut through with a knife. He refused to get in the middle of these two right now, worried that if he so much as breathed by them he would catch the anger and sorrow that was dripping off both of them. He would talk to them separately when they were far away from each other to find out what happened. It wouldn't stop bothering him until he figured out what had happened between them. He didn't want to see them fall into the ravine that they were standing over with their friendship. They had enough to worry about without the two of them just moments away from killing each other.

Carlos turned his attention to the other occupants of the room, getting flustered as he stared at the tensed duo of Kendall and James. Camille and Lucy were prepping a small breakfast for Nate, who was tucked under Camille's arms, watching the two girls with wandering eyes. He saw Jo over the stove of the kitchen that connected to the living room, using a spatula to place a pancake on the plate in her other hand before handing the plate to Katelyn, who sat in a chair at the kitchen table. She was smiling as Jo placed the plate down, practically grabbing Jo's hand to sit her down at the seat next to her. Compared to the crying little girl that he saw a few nights ago, Carlos liked this Katelyn a lot better. She was such a happy girl and didn't deserve to be so sad over everything that happened to her in the last few weeks. Carlos thought it was cute how she attached herself to Jo soon after meeting her. She liked the girl a lot. Their friendship was fun to watch and there was never a moment between them that wasn't sweet or cute in some way. The way Jo had her arm around the baby girl with the smile on her face was super adorable. Carlos can also see how much Jo loved Katelyn, even if the girl didn't see it herself. Carlos didn't want to over think things or say something completely out of left field, but those two would be a great sister pair... or even mother/daughter if things got better between the two girls. Katelyn deserved a new mother and right now, Carlos can see Jo filling that role.

Carlos doubt that last one would happen. Frankie wouldn't let it happen. He didn't seem like he would. Carlos thought it was lucky enough that he left his daughter alone with Jo, but knew that was because Katelyn wanted to. Frankie completely ran on his kids. They were his lifeline and he would do anything for them and would let them do whatever they wanted to do.

Speaking of the single dad, he soon stepped out the basement, wordlessly closing the door behind him. Carlos saw how his eye seemed to glance around like a missile trying to locate its target. Carlos could see the faint dried tears that were on his face, looking like he had rubbed furiously at them to try and hide the fact that he had them. Carlos didn't know what can make Frankie Wilson, a man who slit another's throat with no remorse, cry, but had a faint theory on what was involved. Carlos was proven correct when he looked to his daughter and started walking over to her, the silence that had been here since he came down looking like it was about to burst at last.

Frankie ignored all eyes on him as he picked up his daughter and started hugging her tight against him. "I love you, sweetie." He told her, earning a confused look from his baby. "I love you so much."

"I love you too, Daddy." Katelyn confusingly responded to her dad, not sure that she understood what was going on with her dad. Carlos noticed as Frankie set his daughter down the tares in his knuckles and the cuts on his skin. His hands looked like crap. Blood was all over them. Carlos knew that Richard must've said or did something that pissed Frankie off enough that he almost ruined his hand beating him. Carlos fully disagreed with the plan to beat Richard, thinking that him knowing where they were not being a good enough reason to hit the poor man. They had enough violence to last an eternity by this point. Carlos thought enough was enough by now.

Frankie kissed the top of her head. "Go to your room for a few minutes."

"Am I in trouble?"

"No, Baby; Daddy just needs to talk to the group for a few minutes. You're too little to listen to this." Katelyn opened her mouth to say something, but her father cut her off with a shake of the head. "Sweetie... just listen to Daddy. Okay?" Frankie appeared to be begging his daughter to listen to him, which was completely strange coming from Frankie. He didn't seem like he would ever resort to begging anyone for anything. He took no shit from anyone, having killed five people in his life for reasons that Carlos knew had to be important. Carlos was still curious on what he was right about that Kendall said he was.

Katelyn nodded at her dad, listening to her father as she took her teddy bear and started walking to her room. Frankie waited five seconds after she closed the door to start talking. Once he did, he became the angry hard ass they knew him as. "Kendall, if you don't kill this asshole, I will!" His hands were balled at his sides, his teeth gritted in anger as he thought about his confrontation with Richard in the basement.

Kendall muted the television, confusion lacing his lately angry features. Carlos could see him curious about what has Frankie all angry and pissed more than usual. Carlos wondered if Kendall could see the tears that were dried on Frankie's face. Carlos wondered if any of them could see his dried tears. If they did, they weren't saying anything about it.

"Why? What happened?" Kendall saw the way Frankie glanced at the stairs up towards his daughter's room, sadness and anger mixing in the one eye that he had left. Kendall stood forward to clasp a hand on his shoulder. "Frank... What's going on?"

"Five dozen..." At the confused looks, he elaborated. "That's how many people this asshole has working for him. If he comes here, we're all dead... if we're lucky..." Frankie took in a shaky breath, Kendall's hand falling from his shoulder as he did. "They... Before they kill people... They..." He choked up, expressing the first sign of weakness around these people. He couldn't help it. The thoughts he now had, the fear that he now possessed; it was getting to him. Anything that endangered his kids got him emotional and scared. "Kids my daughter's age..." This was so hard for him to say. His heart ached just hearing Richard say it, it was destroying him just thinking about it and getting ready to say it. This was a father's worse nightmare... and the nightmare was one step away from happening to him.

"What about it?" Jo started getting scared, her love for the little girl starting to take hold of her mind and enlisting fears into her heart. "What do they do to kids?"

"They... assault them before they die..." The words tasted like acid off his tongue. They tasted so bad that he almost threw up in his mouth.

James frowned slightly, "Pricks. Beating kids before they die." Frankie's shake of the head raised more fear and confusion.

"That's what you mean, right?" Lucy was in denial. Frankie couldn't mean what he was implying. He just couldn't. They couldn't be that sick... could they?

"... No..." he revealed, confirming the fears that rose in everyone's chest. The Painter Killer and his goons sexually assaulted people before they die. Now they understood where Frankie's anger and fear was coming from. That couldn't have been easy for him to hear. It must've killed him even more than he already was inside. The question on why his hands were messed up was also answered. He must've flipped out and beaten Richard badly. It was nothing short a miracle that Frankie didn't kill him already.

"W-What?" Jo stuttered, a whirlwind of emotions hitting her in the chest like a bowling ball shot out a cannon. "T-They...?" Her watery eyes looked up to where Katelyn had disappeared up to a few minutes ago. Just the idea made her close to throwing up on the floor. She covered her mouth and started crying instead. "Oh my God..." she sobbed. "Baby Girl..." Just imagining Katelyn... She was so young... Jo couldn't begin to process the idea. She threw her arms around the nearest person, which happened to be the silent Frankie, and started crying into his shoulder. He surprisingly didn't push her away, but he didn't hug her back either; just letting the blonde girl cry on his shoulder. He must've been appreciative of Jo's love and care for his baby and decided he can pay her back by letting her sob on him, knowing exactly how she was feeling and feeling even worse. This was his daughter after all. One of the only two things left that he cared about.

Kendall was angry, knowing that the final straw had been pulled. His decision was made. "We don't have a choice now. He's a threat... We have to eliminate the threat..." Kendall didn't want another kill, but it had to be done. They had to do this. As much as Kendall was pissed at James for trying to kill him, he was right from the start with this. They should've just killed Richard back in 2J and been done with it. Kendall regretted being the nice guy. He was done with it though. The nice guy act was gone like the window James had shattered when he tried to kill him.

"We're just gonna kill him?" Carlos' low voice called out, finding the idea of killing someone else to be sickening like what he just heard. It was horrible, yes, but that didn't mean they had to kill Richard. He was just an associate, not the commuter of the act. It was the killer who did shit like this. Carlos was the only one who believed Richard's story of him trying to keep his mother alive by working for the killer. It sounded fucked up, just like with everything else they've been dealing with these past few days.

Kendall ignored him, "We'll do it today... Now if you want to..."

"Killing him?" Camille questioned. "Is that really the answer?" She was horrified and disgusted about what she just heard as much as the next person, but to take their anger out by killing someone? There had been enough killing these last few days for a lifetime. No one else had to or deserved to die. Not even The Painter Killer, as much as Camille wanted him dead for everything he's done to people.

"What else do we do?" James questioned her, opening the floor for them to answer him. No matter how sad and angry James was at himself for what he almost did to Kendall, his mind never changed on how to deal with Richard. He was just happy he wasn't the only one now who wanted him dead. Now it was him, Kendall, Lucy, Jo, and Frankie. It was five to two unlike one to six like it was before. "There's nothing else we can do about this. As much as it hurts me to say it, we need to kill him."

"Of course you do, James," Kendall scoffed, rolling his eyes in James' direction. "You love to kill things now." Kendall took a jab at James' heart, deliberately intending to hurt James with his words. It got the desired effect he wanted when James took a step back in surprise and hurt at Kendall's words. As much as Kendall would've loved to side against James for everything from here on out just to annoy him, he wasn't gonna make a horrible call that got someone hurt just because he was mad at James. They didn't deserve to suffer for what James did to him.

Kendall started walking away to the backyard to clear his head before he heard someone following him. Before he snapped, he saw it was just Carlos. "Yeah?"

"Don't do this, Kendall," Carlos gave his friend a pleading look. "We're better than this."

Kendall sighed as he he shook his head, "I thought about it all night. Knowing what we know now, I don't see a way out of this."

"You can't just decide on you're own to take someone's life," Kendall admired Carlos' persistence and determination, but now wasn't the time. They needed to do this. "Please, give me the day to talk to everyone. Try to get them to change their minds about this. Please?" Kendall wanted to say no, but this was Carlos Garcia. It wasn't easy to do that to him. "Would Logan and your family think this is right?" Kendall sucked in a harsh breath, knowing Carlos didn't mean to do that to him by mentioning their kidnapped family. He was just saying stuff to get him to say yes to him, regardless of what it was. Carlos was right though. They wouldn't think this was right. At least... not until there was absolutely no more stalling or choices left. Kendall could give this to Carlos. He would do this for his only friend left. As far as Kendall was concerned, he and James were done.

He made his choice.

"We reconvene at sunset." He gave a warning look to the boy in front of him. "Then what happens... happens." Kendall waited for Carlos to nod before he continued walking to the backyard. Carlos had one hell of an uphill battle coming if he was gonna try to keep Richard alive.

Kendall still wishes he shot him.

...

Carlos waited until things calmed down, which was around an hour, before he decided to start talking to the group on the topic of sparing Richard's life. Carlos knew it wasn't gonna be easy to convince them after what they heard, but he needed to try. He wanted to avoid as much bloodshed as possible, thinking that enough people had died already by this point. He understood that the anger the group felt was justified after hearing the horror they heard from Frankie. He was angry too, but at the killer and not Richard, unlike everyone else. They were projecting their anger from the killer to Richard since he was here and the real monster wasn't. Carlos wouldn't blame someone for someone else's actions. He just wouldn't, no matter how bad and horrid they were.

He walked up to the second level of Frankie's house, looking around for the man himself. He was the first one he was gonna talk to try and get on his side. If he can convince him, then maybe the rest will follow suit and take their side. Carlos figured he would start with the hardest challenge and go down to try and get everyone else. It might've possibly been a waste of time to try and convince the hard ass that was Frankie Wilson, but he was sure as hell gonna try. Carlos didn't want anymore death. His psyche couldn't take seeing anymore of it.

He saw him in the middle of the hallway, standing over a small drawer that was set up in the middle between the door to his daughter's bedroom and his own. A key was dangled between his fingers as he concentrated on the small lock that was put on the drawer. Carlos could see the small hint of sadness and regret that was on his face as he slowed his breathing, his attention still focused on the drawer in front of him. What ever it was that was in there, Carlos knew that it had to bring nothing but bad memories back to Frankie's head.

Frankie seemed to feel him staring at him, turning his head to stare at him. He hid the key within his fist, trying to hide it from Carlos' line of view. "What?" the angry tone was still in his voice as he spoke, not that Carlos expected it to go away anytime soon; not after what he heard from Richard.

Carlos cleared his throat before proceeding, knowing that it was futile to wait for Frankie to calm down fully from his anger. Even if Richard hadn't told him anything, he would still be somewhat angry and upset over something. "I wanna change your mind about Richard,"

"You're wasting your time," Frankie cut him off with a growl, "I want that son of a bitch dead and no one can change my mind over it." He spoke with finality and finesse towards the Latino boy in front of him, who was lowering his face into a sad one as the one eyed man spoke to him. "And why do you want to save him? For Gods sake, didn't you hear a word I said before?" Frankie was gonna repeat what he said before, mostly for his own benefit. It was hard enough to say it once, let alone a second time. This time he might actually break down and cry if the words came out his mouth again.

Carlos nodded his head, "I did. I did hear you, but hasn't there been enough death?" Carlos dropped a slight undertone of begging in his voice to the traumatized man in front of him, hoping he would see it and reconsider. Carlos knew that Frankie was a good guy. He had seen it before. He didn't want to kill anyone or for anymore people to die. Carlos had seen his eye water back in his apartment when discussing the people he killed, which showed him that killing people still had their effect on him, no matter how hardened he tried to act. Frankie was soft deep down. Carlos just needed to pound away at the concrete he placed around his heart to get there.

Frankie shook his head angrily and fiercely, "Nope. Not until that son of a bitch and his boss are six feet under." He harshly spat. Carlos didn't take his anger towards him personally. He was just scared after what he heard. It was a parent's worse nightmare what he heard back in the basement and he was just acting out accordingly to his emotions that he felt. Carlos needed to try something else. He needed to try and use that anger and fear to help himself, as horrible and stupid as that sounded.

"So you're gonna be the one to kill him?" At Frankie's almost proud nod, he continued, "So that'll be six people you killed..." Frankie narrowed his eye at Carlos, confused at what he was trying to do here. Carlos needed to get Frankie to think about how much more messed up he was gonna be if he kept killing people. He would eventually snap, regardless if he has kids or not. If he could get him to see that, he'll stop and Carlos can then try to convince him to keep Richard alive. It was all he could think of at the moment. Frankie's kids and family were his only weakness as far as Carlos can see. "Doesn't it faze you anymore?" Frankie shook his head. "Does your daughter know you killed people?"

Frankie almost flinched, looking down towards the ground beneath him. Carlos felt waves of guilt hit him in the chest as he watched him sadden. This was not his goal. He just wanted to show Frankie the cons of the heinous decisions he's made and the goal he now had of killing Richard. It was gonna destroy him. Carlos might've just done that with how guilty Frankie looked right now. Carlos only knew him for a few days, but he hasn't seen him this upset before. He hasn't even seen him anything but angry before today. Carlos cursed himself for saying the wrong things. Before he could apologize, Frankie answered his question.

"No. She doesn't know anything about what I did and she doesn't need to know." He gave Carlos a warning look, actually thinking that the bubbly boy was gonna ruin his family by telling his daughter her father had killed people. Carlos would never intentionally do anything to hurt Frankie and his family. They didn't need anymore pain than they already had. They had enough for a dozen lifetimes. "Everything I do, it's for her and Nate. That includes people I killed and people I will kill." Carlos knew he meant Richard and The Painter Killer. "I don't want the possibility of my kids getting hurt to hang over my head. If I can stop it, I will. No remorse." He sighed. "I might hate killing people, but I have to do it to keep them alive. Sometimes it's just what it is."

Carlos knew he was done here. Frankie wasn't gonna budge, not when his kids were in danger. Maybe if it was just him, Carlos could talk him down; but since he had a daughter and little brother left to love and care for, he wasn't gonna budge from his choice. Carlos thought that he saw guilt and regret on his face as he recalled something. He must've made a choice that had really bad consequences and didn't want to make the same mistake again. Wouldn't make the same mistake again sounded more right for him. Carlos lost this. He lost one possible supporter for his cause to save Richard.

"So... six?" Carlos sadly asked, Frankie nodding his head slowly to Carlos' question.

"Six..." he said as Carlos walked away, his head and arm hung in defeat. Frankie was more worried at how he had a lack of compassion for Carlos as he walked away. The boy was trying to save a guy who worked for a serial killer. The same serial killer who killed his family, his girlfriend, and indirectly caused him to kill his best friend. Carlos must've been partially stupid for trying to get him to take his side in saving the man's life after what Richard told him in the basement. There wasn't a snowball's chance in hell that he was gonna side with Carlos and save Richard's life. He was gonna die and Frankie wanted to be the one to do it. He opened his palm, the key still in his hand. He was close to sticking it in the lock and getting the object that was inside before he heard the creaking of his bathroom door open. He knew it was the bathroom door since it was the only one that creaked.

He inwardly groaned when he saw it was Jo, his daughter's best friend according to his little girl. He groaned because it hurt him to look at her, for the fact that she looked like his dead girlfriend, because she was getting too close to his baby and he had felt something when she hugged him after hearing what Richard had told him. He was slightly flattered she cared about his daughter so much that it broke her to tears what Richard said, but it didn't really matter to him. He still was sure that once everything was said and done he wasn't gonna see these people again and didn't want his daughter to get upset that she couldn't see her best friend anymore. He would be an asshole and break off the friendship, but he couldn't hurt Katelyn. She was too important to him to hurt. His daughter was his whole world and he didn't want to destroy that. When she started walking to him, he saw the concerned and surprised look that was on her face that he couldn't see before due to his limited sight. He was about to bark at her and ask what before she spoke first, effectively shutting him up with what she told him.

"You killed five people?" he wanted to smack himself in the face for carelessly throwing out what he said. He felt like a bigger idiot and loser than he already felt he was. He shouldn't have been throwing around that he was a murdering psycho to everyone around him. It could land him in a bunch of trouble if the wrong person caught wind of it, which could be Jo by the look on her face. She stepped a little closer, starting to get into his personal space just slightly. He backed away in a mix of annoyance and fear. He remained silent in response to her question though, not gonna tell her anything he didn't want her to know. He already fucked up with that with this, he didn't need to do it again.

"You did..." She apparently had taken his silence as a yes, silently cursing himself for underestimating her intelligence. When he was he gonna learn to stop repeating mistakes with people? He did this before and he ended up killing his best friend. He wasn't sure if he could kill Jo though if he wanted to, not with how much his daughter liked the woman in front of him. "Are you okay?" Why did she care? She had no reason to care about him. He didn't do anything for her that could make her care about him. He had to laugh at the question though. He was far from okay. He was a murdering bastard for Christs sake. Frankie flinched when she held an outstretched hand to him, not wanting to have her touch him in fear that the feeling from before would come back. He didn't like it and didn't want anything to do with it. It reminded him too much of Elena's touch when she tried to comfort him over what he did. He didn't want comfort. He didn't want any of that.

Jo seemed to be growing annoyed with his lack of speech if the way her eyes narrowed at him was any indication. "Are you okay?" she asked again, growing increasingly annoyed with Frankie ignoring her. Here she was asking him if he was okay and he wasn't opening his mouth to answer her. She understood though why he was ignoring her. He didn't care about anyone but his babies and probably didn't want to talk about his feelings to a stranger. Jo just thought that he would benefit to having someone to be able to talk to that wasn't his kids about what he's been through. Talking to her or anyone else that would be able to understand him might make him feel a little better. Guess she was wrong. "Killing people isn't easy on someone," she was referencing Kendall, James, and Carlos here when she talked. "I'm concerned with you. You got kids who rely on you to take care of them,"

Frankie sighed. Of course it wasn't about her caring about him. It was because of his kids she was asking him and checking on him. Frankie didn't care if she didn't care about him, even he himself could give two shits about what happens to him. As long as his kids were alive and healthy, he didn't care what happened to him. He could die tomorrow and he wouldn't care. A part of him would welcome it with open arms. His only regret with death would be his kids losing him. That's why he refused to die until Nate turned eighteen. He had eighteen more years left of life. Once he turned forty, he was dead for all he cared. "You got kids who need you to stay strong for them. They need you here for them and not... you know... out there." Was she calling him crazy? Was she calling him crazy like her friend James? Good. At least he wasn't the only one that thought he was nuts.

"I'm perfectly down to earth when it comes to my kids," he countered, finally deciding that using his voice might get the blonde girl in front of him to back off and leave him alone. "They're all I think about and the reason why I do the shit I do." His babies were why he killed David. His babies were why he was still living right now... His babies were why he killed Isaiah, his best friend.

"I heard you talking to Carlos," Jo admitted, although he figured that out when she revealed she knew he killed people. "I know." She got a little nervous when she said what she said next. "Do you wanna talk about it?" He narrowed his one eye in confusion at her. She tried again. "Do you wanna talk to me about what you did?" Frankie found the question to be ridiculous in every fashion. What would talking do? Talking wouldn't bring back the people he killed, talking wouldn't bring his family back, and talking sure as hell wouldn't get rid of his guilt. He had too much for it to simply go away in one conversation. He had demons that would never be vanquished. As far as Frankie was concerned, he was doomed to be anti-social and murderous for the rest of his life. He was dangling over the sea of darkness and despair, already having been covered with the contents of the water. He was just waiting to see what it took to start making him drown.

"About my feelings?" he asked it in a mocking fashion, not bothering to see that this might make him feel better. Talking might work, but he refused to see it. "About how I'm a murderer and a psychopath?" he chuckled. "Sorry, but that's not gonna do a damn thing for me, Jo. Not a damn thing. I'm sure that no matter what words I say to you, it won't change how I'm a monster." He didn't even realize a small crack of his real self was just shown. Scared and angered at himself.

Her next words shocked him a lot, shocked him enough to have his mouth start to hang open. "You're not a monster," she told him with clarity and sureness. "Monsters are creatures who don't care about other people," that was him, "Monsters do heinous acts with no remorse," Again, that was him. "Monsters don't love their kids like you do yours." Okay, he didn't know what to say here. He did love his kids more than anything else. "Monsters don't comfort their baby or show them affection like you do with Nate and Katelyn," Jo was starting to make sense to him, which started to scare him slightly. He was a monster. He knew it and was more afraid that he wasn't. He's been thinking that since he killed Isaiah and it stuck to him like glue as the truth. To hear someone tell him he wasn't, no matter if she knew him or not, struck at him like lightning.

Jo gave him a small smile. "You're just angry when you have every right to be. It doesn't make you evil." Frankie was about to counter with him wanting to kill Richard before she spoke again, "If you think you're a monster for wanting to kill Richard, then I guess that makes me and James one too." James was batshit crazy in Frankie's eye. He was just like Isaiah in the monster category, especially after Kendall saying that he was right about James trying to kill him. Jo, on the other hand, was the exact opposite. She was small, bright, and sweet. Monsters weren't like that. They were big, angry, and bloodthirsty like him and James. His brain just played catch-up and registered what she said before. When the look of realization drew on his face, she nodded. "I want him dead too, Frankie. What he said..." she coughed when she felt the vomit she let go in the bathroom come back up. "It was horrible. Anyone that works for that has to be as bad as The Painter Killer is." Jo looked to the bedroom where his daughter was waiting in for him to come back in for their tea party. "I want that baby happy and away from danger. If that means we have to kill this guy... then we do it. You and your family don't need fear on top of everything else you have."

Her words struck at him. They made him think for the first time in weeks about himself. If he wanted Richard dead, it just made him a protective dad? Come to think of it before today, Frankie didn't give a fuck if Richard lived or died. If he would've came back, Frankie would've mowed him and anyone he brought with him in cold blood. He didn't care if it meant his babies were safe. But now that he knew what these guys were fully capable of, he couldn't have them knowing he was back in this fucked up game they were playing. If they knew, he would come back after him and his kids, possibly sending him back into challenges that would be harder than the last ones he's done. He would never go back there. He didn't have help anymore. He would be on his own.

Frankie sighed, "I guess we don't." He eyed her cautiously. "You don't feel bad at all about this?" Frankie normally didn't care about other people's feelings, letting people deal with their sorrow or whatever on their own. But he knew the guilt of killing someone or letting someone die and knew how much it hurt. Like he told himself before, he would do anything to stop anyone from becoming like him; a serial killer just waiting to be born.

Jo lowered her head slightly, "A little, but I know that good will come from this. It sucks that there's so much death going around, but that's to be expected when going against a serial killer as vicious as The Painter Killer." She brought up a really good point. Frankie didn't know why he didn't see the possibility of death coming when he roped himself back in the nightmare. His obsession with revenge clouded his judgement and thought process. He really needed to learn to start thinking before acting. "We have to do this... Even if it makes me feel sick."

"The first time does that..." he remembered his first kill... Which involved him, a Hispanic sociopath, a machete, and ramming it through his head. He got sick just thinking about it, but he refused to be weak. Being weak is what got his family killed. He refused to go back to the way he was before. He hated who he was before. It did nothing but serve as a reminder of his failure as a family member. He had enough reminders without having to be a weak spineless loser on top of it. A murdering psychopath loser sounded better to him.

Jo caught the tone. The tone that said that he was upset about what he did. Monsters didn't feel bad about what they did. They relished in it. Frankie was far from that. He was a bit mean, but that was to be expected given everything he's been through in the last month. He was a decent guy despite everything he's went trough. Jo felt really bad for him and his family. She wished she can make things better for them. Eliminating the paranoia of the killer coming back after them could be a start. Baby steps seemed like the way to go here.

Jo saw he was distracted with his thoughts, possibly memories of the first person he killed flooding his head, a pang of guilt in her chest for bringing back the horrible memories. She walked forward, rubbing the tip of her finger across his cheek, caressing it gently. "You're not a monster, Frankie. A monster couldn't have made something as bright and cute as Katelyn." She started walking away, giggling silently at the shocked look that appeared on his face when she caressed his cheek. She did it to show him that he wasn't evil, hoping the action would help to show him that if she willingly touched him despite him having killed five people, he wasn't bad because of it. Jo might've only really known the circumstances surrounding him killing one of the spies that the killer sent after them, but she was positive that for the other four, Frankie had really good reasons for doing so.

She heard him clear his throat, turning around to see him stumbling on the words he wanted to say. "Katelyn and I are having a tea party," she awed. That was so cute. "It would mean a lot to her if her best friend was there too."

Jo sent him a confused look, "Don't you want to have some daddy/daughter time with her with just the two of you?"

"She asked me to ask you before," he admitted. "So... are you coming or no?" Jo smiled and nodded, excited to spend more time with Katelyn. After what Richard said to Frankie, she grew more protective over the cute little angel, not wanting to leave her side unless absolutely necessary. She let Frankie lead her into his daughter's bedroom, which was painted pink with a bunch of toys littering the floor by her small bed. Jo felt her heart flutter at seeing Katelyn dressed up as a princess, a wand and tiara to boot. She was so freakin' cute. Jo wanted to smoother her with hugs and kisses. The way her face lit up upon seeing her made her feel warmer inside. She loved this little girl. Jo didn't even see her as a friend anymore. She saw her like a baby sister. Even though she only met her three days ago, she couldn't her life without the presence of the three-year-old dressed up right now as a princess.

She saw Katelyn hand Frankie a tea cup, exchanging words with her dad that made a smile cross on his face, giving his daughter a kiss on the tip of her nose. Jo smirked. And he thought of himself as a monster? Monsters don't play tea party with their daughter. Loving fathers did that. She was handed a cup too by Katelyn, sitting on her left side while her father sat on her right. This family definitely didn't need to worry about more potential sorrow than what they already dealt with and still are trying to recover from. They deserved the happiness that was being briefly shown now as Katelyn handed Nate, who was in his car-seat next to her and Frankie, a cup too, happiness clouding her features. Frankie's smile is what intrigued her, knowing that this is who he really was. Loving and affectionate to those he cares about. She was happy she could see it, wishing he was like that more, but understood why he wasn't.

There was more to Frankie Wilson than meets the eye and Jo was curious to find out and see who he really was.

...

A figure stepped into the basement, their feet hitting the ground slowly and menacingly towards the bound Richard, who had on a blindfold and gag on his mouth. A gun was settled at the waistband of the figure, who ran his hands through his head as he leaned over Richard, snarling down above him. He sighed before he shut his eyes in thought, going over the idea that he had in his head. Flashes of the public works place flooded his head as he remembered every insult, felt every punch, and the pain that came afterwards when they were driving back.

The anger he felt then, the pain he felt now, it was because of the man beneath him. If only they decided to not take him back then the incident from yesterday wouldn't have happened and they would still be friends. There wouldn't be even more tension between them and things could be better between them. Now, because of him being an idiot, they were worse off than they ever were and not speaking to the other. They needed each other's help now more than ever and they didn't even have that. He felt the urge to kill Richard come back as the images replayed in his head.

He growled, slapping his head to dull out the images as he pulled out the gun from his waistband, cocking off the safety as he stared down at Richard, pointing the weapon to the top of his head, thinking about pulling the trigger and just ending everything with this now. He inched his finger slowly towards the trigger, thinking of all the bad shit that happened because of this man and his boss. He was about to do it before he shook his head and pulled back, knowing that it wasn't the right thing to do now. He promised Carlos that he would let him try to convince the others to spare him and he didn't want to go back on his only best friend left. That would be a James move and he wouldn't be a James, no matter how much he wanted to shoot and kill the man beneath him. As he turned, he didn't see the knife that was behind Richard's hands.

Kendall started leaving the basement, knowing that until Carlos was done, he couldn't kill Richard. Once they talked and the choice was made, they would go from there. Kendall just hoped that if the choice favored for killing him, that he was the one to do it. His friendship with James was gone because of Richard and the shit his boss did... it made Kendall scream for his death even more. If somehow someway the choice to let him go was favored, Kendall would swallow it and deal with it, but he would prepare for the fight that would come if they did.

Kendall knew a war was gonna come. It was just a matter of it was sooner or later.

...

Carlos was feeling victorious.

Camille had agreed to take his side, feeling the same way he did about Richard. Carlos needed the small feeling of victory after getting pushed off by Frankie, Jo, who he had tried to talk to about siding with him but refused him with no debate, and Lucy, who had said she doesn't want someone as sick as Richard around her or babies. Carlos had tried to explain to her that it wasn't Richard who done it but, like Frankie, according to Lucy if Richard worked for the killer, he was just as bad as he was. That was the end of that conversation, but Lucy did hug him to let her know she was sorry she was against his decision, which made Carlos feel a little better about the whole thing.

That left Kendall, who was going to check on Richard's restraints, and James, who was sitting on the porch swing in Frankie's backyard. Carlos was a little nervous to talk to his friends after having felt the tension between them, so he decided it would be wise to wait for them to get away from each other before he moved in to talk to one of them. He settled for James when he saw him sitting looking all lonely. He's been like this since he and Kendall came back the other day. He looked so guilty and so remorseful that Carlos didn't know what possibly could've happened to them that affected James and Kendall so much. It was like Kendall was now how James was the last two days and James was a hollow former shell of his old self. It was all so confusing for him. What could've happened that changed them so much? Carlos both wanted and not wanted to know.

He walked up to James, finding him swinging aimlessly on the porch swing, staring blankly ahead. Carlos hopped on when the seat came up to him, staring at James to try and get him to look at him. James didn't budge an inch, still keeping all his attention at the blank space ahead of him. Carlos got the words in his head prepared, knowing this was gonna be as hard as trying to convince Frankie to spare Richard. At least James didn't have kids that would bias his decision.

"What's up, Carlos?" James finally talked, turning his head to stare at his friend, guilt and regret clouded in his eyes clear as day. Carlos almost lost the words he had as he stared at James, never seeing him look this bad before. Not even when he acted like a dick that one day and acted like a psycho. At least then there was emotion to be seen. Here? Nothing. Nothing at all but guilt and regret.

"Ummm... I wanted to change your mind about Richard..." Carlos saw James laugh, as if he found Carlos' statement to be hilarious when it clearly wasn't. This was a man's life and James didn't seem to care. Not that Carlos expected him to when he was the first one who was all for killing Richard in the beginning back in 2J. Carlos didn't even know why he was trying with James. He probably was gonna fail anyway like he's been doing all day, but maybe, by some stroke of luck, he can get James on his side. "I know you hate him and want him dead..."

"That's the understatement of the year," James laughed, confirming Carlos' declaration. He didn't know why Carlos was trying to save this trash's life, but knew he was gonna eventually come to him when he heard from Lucy what she and Carlos talked about. James had his answers pre-planned already, wanting this to end fast so he can get back to doing the challenges and dealing with his anger at himself for trying to kill Kendall.

"But there's seven of us and only one of him," Carlos mentioned.

"There's five dozen of them..." James reminded, not sure where Carlos was getting his logic from. If this guy was allowed to go, then they were all screwed. Him, Kendall, Frankie, everyone. The last thing they needed was the added fear of the killer coming after them when they slept. No. It just wasn't happening with James. He wouldn't allow it.

"Killing him doesn't change that..."

"Nope," James shook his head.

Carlos raised a finger, "But it changes us..." Carlos said, making James stop and think about what he said. Carlos had a strong point. Killing people has been changing them greatly. He was crazy, Kendall was angry now, and Carlos himself was guilt-ridden beyond description. Those bags under his eyes showed what killing was doing to him. Carlos might've not wanted to do anymore, but this was unavoidable. It had to be done whether they liked it or not. James didn't like killing no matter how much he seemed to be pushing for it. He was sickened by it, but knew that it had to be done with the situations they were being thrown in. Sometimes it was just about doing what has to be done, regardless of how you feel afterwards. That's what James had thought... That's what he thought before he tried to kill Kendall... He shook his head, ignoring the way Carlos stared at him concernedly. He was such a horrible friend. First he tried to kill Kendall and now he was disagreeing with Carlos. Was he always like this? Was he always heartless like a serial killer? That couldn't be true. It just couldn't.

"I'm sorry, Carlos, I am, believe me. But this has to be done..." he stared apologetically at his friend, "I know that killing people sucks and we should try to avoid it, but not this time. We have to do this, no matter how much it makes us want to throw up and hate ourselves for it after." He saw Carlos sigh in defeat, regret clouding him once again as he watched the saddened face of his best friend. Carlos was the only friend he had left, his relationship with Kendall shattered back at the public works place with the window he threw the wrench at and Logan still being M.I.A. with the killer. Carlos was all he had left and it hurt him to hurt him, it really did, but James needed to think about the long-term future here and not just his feelings. It was that kind of thinking that made him and Kendall fight.

Carlos admitted defeat, "Fine... but answer me this..." James nodded, urging for his friend to continue, feeling that he could answer something else for him to make up for making him feel bad. "What happened between you and Kendall?" James immediately started feeling tense and guilt as he thought about what happened. He remembered every word and every hit like if it was happening for a second time right in front of him. He felt the anger at himself increase as he thought about what he could tell Carlos. He was worried to tell Carlos what happened in fear of losing his only friend left for trying to kill another. Carlos would no doubt hate him for what he did and James couldn't allow that. He didn't want to lose the hold that he had on Carlos as his friend. If it fell, James would lose his mind... again, but it would be worse off this time.

James took in a shaky breath, letting it out just as shakily. "I'm sure you don't want to know. All I can say is... I did something bad... Something you will hate me for if you ever found out." Carlos opened his mouth to ask what he was talking about before James started letting a tear fall. "Please, Carlos... don't egg it on. I can't lose you too." James was insanely worried and paranoid over losing the Latino boy, not willing to take a chance and trust Carlos with the information of what happened between him and Kendall. James just wishes he never fuckin' shot Otis and instigated his own downward spiral.

Carlos was shocked and bewildered at James' sudden avoidance of the hot topic of him and Kendall. He respected his friend so he didn't pester him on what happened after he saw him cry a tear over it. Carlos wanted James to trust him with the story of what happened, but if he wasn't ready to talk about what happened, he couldn't budge him over it. That wouldn't be fair. That was everyone and he failed. Kendall was most likely gonna be a waste of time too since he gave him the time to talk to everyone, so his decision for Richard was painfully obvious. Carlos groaned inwardly. Sunset was here. It was time to talk about it with everyone.

Carlos silently apologized to Richard.

...

"So... where do we stand?"

Kendall looked around as everyone settled in the space of Frankie's living room. The time to make a decision was now. They needed to get back to the challenges by tomorrow or else too much time would've been wasted on this. They needed to decide whether or not to let him go or kill him by the end of the hour. He saw James sit as far away as he could from him, which was fine with Kendall. He wanted nothing to do with James anymore. As far as he was concerned, he was just an acquaintance to him. Nothing more, nothing less.

"Isn't it obvious?" Carlos butted in, standing with his back to the front door of the house. "We know where everyone stands on this. Why bother talking about it?"

Kendall sighed, "If anyone thinks we should spare him, I wanna know," Kendall gave Carlos the benefit of the doubt and let anyone else take another second to rethink their choice. Kendall didn't see anyone budging from their spots or appear to be rethinking their choice. It was like they were set and stone about what they wanted, which was taking the life of a man. Kendall was on that side.

"I can tell you it's a small group," Carlos looked over to Camille. "Maybe just me and Camille." The group glanced to Camille, who nodded her agreement with Carlos. "There's been enough death, Kendall. We don't need to do this." He begged, Kendall feeling horrible for reducing his friend to begging over sparing the life of someone who works for someone as dark and evil as The Painter Killer. "We're better than this." Maybe, but they weren't left with a whole lot of choices with this. Right now, for Kendall, it was kill or be killed.

"It doesn't matter," Frankie put in, standing by the stairwell that led to the upper level of his house. "We gotta do what we gotta do here. If this guy lives, we're all screwed..." There was double-meaning there. A meaning that they all knew and didn't need explaining. Kendall grew sick as he thought about it again. He felt the sickness egg him on to kill Richard right now and screw this meeting. Kendall ignored it. He needed everyone's approval or else he'll feel as evil as James.

"We can't just drive him out again, further this time?" Camille asked, Carlos nodding in agreement with that plan. Kendall and James both sighed at that idea, memories of the last time they tried returning to them ten-fold. Kendall grew angry while James grew guilty.

"No!" Kendall shot down the idea with more force than necessary. "It's either we kill him or let him go on his own. I'm not sticking my neck out again for this prick..." Kendall composed himself when he saw the group start to stare at him weirdly at what he said and his tone of what he said. "I need to know right now... Do we kill him or no?" The group glanced to each other before he saw Jo speak up against the silence.

"If we go through with it... how will we do it? Gunshots will draw attention to us." She was right. If there was any gunshots, someone could call the cops and report it and then they'll all be caught. There had to be an alternate way to do this without drawing attention to them that could be avoided.

"We could snap his neck," James offered.

"Or slit his throat..." Frankie said, recalling how quick it was to kill David by doing it.

"Aren't those a little extreme?" Lucy asked. "And when we do this, what do we do with the body?"

"Hey!" Carlos interrupted, not believing that the conversation drifted away from what to do with Richard to how they were gonna kill him. "You're talking about this like if it's already decided..." Shock and disbelief was clear in his voice as he talked, making Jo look away embarrassed as she was the one who instigated the latter half of the conversation. She just wanted Katelyn and Frankie safe from anymore pain and fear. They didn't need to deal with anymore than they already had.

"You went around circles all day today, you wanna go around in circles again?" Frankie asked, knowing that if Carlos held onto his decision too much, he was gonna get hurt when the choice was made. It was obvious where this was going and once Carlos saw that, he would feel just a little bit better. He knew how he was feeling. He's been in this position before. Once it was done, Carlos'll get over it.

"This is a man's life!" Carlos shouted, regretting it when he remembered there were kids sleeping upstairs. "And it's worth way more than a five second conversation!" he slammed his hand on his thigh. "Is this what it comes to? We kill him just because we don't know what else to do?" He looked to Kendall. "You brought him here?! For what? To torture him? To execute him?" Carlos started growing desperate. "How are we any better than the people we are so goddamn afraid of?" James lowered his head along with Lucy. Carlos let the tears he had been keeping in all day out, flowing down his face two at a time. "Please... Let's just do what's right."

Kendall stayed silent as he looked for any changes in anyone's posture. Frankie was as stone cold as ever, his mind set on killing Richard. James appeared to be sad, but didn't look like he was gonna budge from his choice. Camille already wanted to spare Richard, so her mindset was with Carlos'. Jo looked to be fighting something internally, but didn't look to be changing her mind. She loved Katelyn too much to have the chance of her getting hurt out there to happen. He was still all for killing Richard, if only for the fact that it had to be done for their safety. He didn't see Lucy slowly nod at Carlos.

"He's right..." Carlos turned shocked towards Lucy, the edges and beginnings of a smile starting to form. "We should try to find another way." Carlos and Camille were grateful to have another supporter, but the three biggest hardasses were still on the other side. The fight still wouldn't be won, especially since it was four-three now.

"Anyone else...?" Frankie and James slowly shook their heads, Kendall looking to Jo to see if she was gonna change her mind. She swallowed, but kept quiet. It looked to be destroying her, her choice, but she was dealing with it anyway because she knew it was the right choice in her mind. Kendall could admire that. She was agreeing to kill another human. He, James, and Frankie already had done it before, so it was easier for them to agree to this. It must be really hard on Jo.

"You're all gonna watch, too?" Carlos asked with a scoff, tears still flowing down his face. "Or are you gonna go and hide and forget we're killing another human being?" He strolled over towards the backyard, stopping by Frankie and staring at him in the eye. "Guess you do gotta do what you gotta do." He walked off towards the backyard to try and get as far away as he could from the impending death that was about to take place. The group looked to where he left, pity and guilt forming in their hearts as they watched him hide out in the backyard.

Kendall swallowed the bile in his throat. He couldn't do this. Carlos was right. How far would this destroy them? This wasn't defense. This was murder. Straight up first degree murder. He replayed what Carlos said before about doing what's right. As much as Kendall wanted to kill Richard, he couldn't be the one to do it. Carlos would hate him forever if he did it. He sighed, not sure if he was making the correct choice. All he knew was that this would make Carlos happy and Carlos was all he had left as of now. He couldn't get him angry or hating at him. He would not be able to take it.

"Let him out..." Kendall told James. "Get him out of here," he apologetically looked to Frankie, who was angry at what Kendall said. He needed to support Carlos, no matter how much he thought it was wrong to let Richard go. Maybe letting him go after what they did to him wasn't the best choice, but it was what Carlos wanted. Carlos was trying to show them that if they went through with this, they were gonna lose themselves to their inner demons. If they went through with this, they were gonna become as bad as The Painter Killer. Frankie scoffed before he seemed to swallow it, probably thinking that even though this was the wrong idea, he would deal with it. He was probably thinking about who he was gonna sacrifice if they came knocking on the door.

"Let him out..." Frankie agreed. "Let him out and when his head sticks out," Frankie pulled out a handgun. "I'll blow his brains out." He glared at Kendall. "I said before if you wouldn't do it, I will. I'll kill him myself."

"Daddy?" Katelyn stood at the top of the stairs in her pajamas with her teddy bear in her arms, drawing attention to her as the group stared at her in shock. "I thought killing is bad?" she sounded confused, remembering her dad telling her that killing people made the person bad. Was her daddy bad?

"It is, Baby," Frankie quickly hid the handgun, trying to erase the image from her head. He remembered telling her that killing people was wrong and the person was bad if they did. She was probably so confused at seeing him with a gun and saying that he was gonna kill someone. It was already bad enough she almost caught him killing Isaiah last week, he didn't want to make her scared of him or think that he was bad for saying what he said. "Daddy was joking." He walked up to his daughter, kneeling down to her. "Why are you up?"

"I had a bad dream," she said. She held her teddy bear close to her chest. "I wanted you to hold me to make me feel better. Can you hold me, Daddy? Pretty please?" Frankie would never say no if his daughter needed him. She was the most important thing in the world to him in his shattered life. He held his arms out to grab her before James came storming up the stairs in a panic.

"He's gone! Richard's gone!" he barked.

Kendall and the rest of the gang gasped at the revelation. "What do you mean he's gone?!"

"The ropes were on the ground with a knife and the window was opened. I guess he broke free and slipped out. Can't tell when though." James explained, Frankie growing panicked after hearing what he said. The bastard was gone?! And he knew where they were and that he was back into this bout with the killer! Frankie brought his arms back to his side and away from his awaiting girl as he ran to the front door, storming out and getting into his family SUV, driving off to search for Richard. This is where it ended. He was gonna kill Richard.

He drove for a few minutes, not finding anything that showed him where Richard was. He couldn't have gotten far in his condition. He beat him bad to the point where if he wanted to walk, he was gonna be limping or struggling to walk. Frankie should be able to see him no problem. He rounded a corner, his one eye glancing at the rear-view mirror to look for the man he beaten. He needed to find him before he went back and got his boss to come after him and his kids. Frankie would not lose another member of his family. He would not!

He saw him. He saw Richard struggling to make it across the street. Frankie was surprised that Richard made it five blocks, but it ended here. He, in a fit of panic, slammed his foot on the gas pedal, speeding towards Richard at a very fast speed. Frankie didn't know how fast he was going, but knew it would be enough to kill him.

He remembered what Jo told him. He remembered what she told him about him not being a monster for what he wanted to do. She made him think about how he was. She made him think about the way he saw himself. She made him think twice about him being a murderer. It was these thoughts that helped him to lift his foot slightly off the gas pedal, slowing his speed as he ran over Richard, the man bouncing on his roof as he hit the ground hard. Frankie, panicked, got out to see what the damage was.

Richard was bloody and lying on the street with his head turned at a weird angle. His legs and arms were bent back, more than likely broken on impact. Frankie put a ear to his chest, not hearing the slight breath or heartbeat he was hoping he saw. Frankie breathed heavily as he looked at his bloody hands, shaking them as he realized what he's just done. He killed him. He killed Richard on the off chance he went back and got his boss to come after him and his kids. Jo's words to him made him rethink killing him. He was trying to stop his car before he killed him. He couldn't and he killed him. That was six. He killed six people now and this was the first time he did it in cold blood. Every other kill he did was in defense. This was the first time he murdered someone... and he felt horrible. He felt like crying over it. Curse Jo and her making him think twice about the kind of person he was. He shouldn't have listened to her. He should've let himself keep on thinking he was a monster.

If he did, he wouldn't be feeling like one right now.

He got back in his car as he drove off back to his house, where he could try to sleep off what he just did. He got to his front door in no time, wanting to get away as soon as he could from the crime scene. He opened his front door, where he was bombarded by his daughter. He ignored her saying his name and hugging him. The trauma was ringing in his ears. He barely saw and heard the group, plus Carlos who seemed a little happier now, come up to him. Forgetting his baby was hugging him, he blurted it out.

"I killed him..." he coughed nervously. "I killed Richard. I ran him over with my car..." He saw the group's eyes widen before they solemnly nodded their heads at him, knowing that was what he was most likely gonna do when he left. He felt his daughter pull away and stare up at him with wide chocolate brown eyes. He knelled down to her, "Baby..." he reached out to touch her, but she pulled away from him, his heart breaking at the scared look on her face as she looked at him.

"Are you bad now, Daddy?" No one saw that coming. "You said people who kill are bad?" She started crying. "You said you were joking. You lied, Daddy. You're bad now!" she ran to her room, crying her eyes out at the thought of her daddy being bad now like the man who hurt her mommy and her daddy's best friend.

Frankie's heart shattered on the floor at his baby's words. She was scared of him now and hated him. His baby, his pride and joy, said he was bad now and was scared of him. He felt like dying. He felt like crawling in a hole and dying. He turned back around and headed back outside and started walking, not caring where his legs took him. For all he cared, he could get hit by a car like he did to Richard. He didn't know how long he walked, but he found himself in the park somehow. He looked to the ravine that was below him, remembering when he took Katelyn to the playground here for her birthday and when he told Elena he wanted to be more than friends with her. This park had good memories for him and he was hoping it could make him feel better about his baby telling him he was bad now.

"My baby girl hates me." He cried for the first time since Isaiah's death. Since he killed his best friend. "My daughter thinks I'm bad..." He failed to hear the steps of someone behind him. "If she hates me, then I have no reason to live. I should just... die..."

"Okay..."

BANG!

Frankie felt something hit his head as he fell down the hill that led to the ravine, feeling something slash at his torso as he hit his head on something hard. He let his eyes roll into the back of his head as he passed out from the pain.

"My Little Princess..." he mumbled before he passed out. "I love you."

End of Chapter 18 of Heavy Blood

That ending felt kinda rushed to me.

Frankie killed Richard and got shot. It's obvious who did it.

His baby is scared of him now :(

You can see by the length why this chapter was late.

The challenges return next time with Kendall doing something drastic while Jo steps into the role of a mother figure while Frankie confronts the ghosts of his past. It's gonna be a fun time.

Next Time: Ghosts


End file.
